Tom Coyne on becoming an "accidental" golf course owner

When the Golfer's Journal editor visited a nine-hole course in New York's Catskills that had seen better days and was up for sale, he took on a new challenge: running the course for a year to see if he could turn it around.

Becoming an "accidental" golf course owner

Tom Coyne, editor of The Golfer's Journal, has played some of the most exclusive golf courses in the world. But when he visited a nine-hole course in New York's Catskills that had seen better days and was up for sale, he took on a new challenge: running the course for a year to see if he could turn it around. Coyne talks with correspondent Lee Cowan about his efforts to preserve a rural community's beloved course, and about his new book, "A Course Called Home: Adventures of an Accidental Golf Course Owner."

Celtic edge Hibs, Bournemouth v Crystal Palace, Villa v Spurs build-up and more – football live

⚽ All the latest going into Sunday’s big games
⚽ Scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Tom

Question of the day – which direction do we think this title race will go?

Can Arsenal see it out? Or will they struggle under pressure and allow City to take it?

Bordeaux Bègles v Bath: Champions Cup semi-final – live

Live updates from the 3pm (BST) kick-off in Bordeaux
Leinster edge past Toulon to reach final | Email Luke

The shortlist for this year’s Champions Cup player of the year award is an eyecatching one. There are five contenders and four of them – Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Finn Russell, Matthieu Jalibert and Caelan Doris – are established world-class operators. So who is the fifth Beatle? An uncapped Englishman who eats only toast on matchdays and is arguably most famous for parading around in his budgie smugglers.

Step forward Alfie Barbeary, the shaggy-haired Bath colossus looking to smash a few holes in Bordeaux Bègles’ title defence at the Stade Atlantique on Sunday. The 25-year-old Barbeary might not yet be a connoisseur of the region’s celebrated wines – “I know there’s red and white but that’s about it” – but he makes up for that in other respects. Some people are born entertainers and the big No 8 is definitely one of them.

Manchester United v Liverpool: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates from the 3.30pm BST kick-off
⚽ Latest table | Top scorers | Follow us over on Bluesky

“Thanks to the Isak injury, yet again Slot is forced to fight fires rather than just manage,” laments Ian Copestake. “Unless it is in January, I hope one day he will be able to say, ‘same team as last year.’”

Now that would be a turn up for the Trent.

Horse racing: Precise the favourite for 1,000 Guineas as O’Brien chases record – live

• Newmarket’s marquee race starts at 3.35pm (BST)

• Get in touch: email Greg about today’s racing

2.20 Newmarket, Dahlia Stakes, Group Two, 1m 1f

Three non-runners for the second race on the card but still one of the biggest fields for this race this century and a wide-open market headed by Owen Burrows’s Falakeyah. She bolted up in the Pretty Polly Stakes here last season and while her two subsequent starts as a three-year-old were well below that level, she has been well backed to return to winning form today. Survie, third in a Group One in Saudi Arabia in February, and Cathedral, in the purple colours of the Amo Racing operation, are next in the list, and Cathedral arguably has the best single piece of recent form having finished a close fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar in November.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (May 3)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Shaun Murphy v Wu Yize: World Snooker Championship final day one – live

Updates from the first day of the Crucible final
Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Daniel

Wu to break…

Also going on:

Isolated Nebraska ranchers learn they are not alone

In the sandhills of western Nebraska, cattle ranchers Mike and Kayla Wintz were afraid they would lose their livelihood when the largest wildfire in the state's history burned their 11,000 acres of grazing fields. But then, in remarkable examples of empathy, charity and grace, anonymous donations of hay started arriving by the truckload. Steve Hartman reports.

Hunting for the Holy Grail of PEZ dispensers

Invented in Austria in 1927, PEZ candies were not a hit in the United States, until cartoon characters were added to the dispenser. Today, PEZ makes five billion candies a year, and its dispensers have become collectors' items.

Hunting for the Holy Grail of PEZ dispensers

PEZ candies were invented in Austria in 1927, but the mints were not a hit in the United States, until cartoon characters were added to a dispenser that ejected fruit flavors. Today, PEZ makes five billion candies a year, and its dispensers have become collectors' items. Correspondent Luke Burbank talks with PEZ historian Shawn Peterson, and collector Brian Trauman, who holds the Guinness World Record for most PEZ dispensers – 6,481 and counting.

Manchester City on verge of WSL title after Knaak’s last-gasp winner sinks Liverpool

Manchester City’s Rebecca Knaak scored a stoppage-time winner to give her side a nervy 1-0 home victory over Liverpool and put one hand on the Women’s Super League trophy.

City top the standings on 52 points with one game left and are out of reach of second-placed Chelsea, who are nine points behind ahead of their clash with the bottom side, Leicester, later on Sunday.

How the space community is rallying to save Nasa from Trump’s budget cuts

Artemis II inspired the public but the Trump administration wants to slash the science underpinning human spaceflight

It should have been a victory lap for Jared Isaacman. The Nasa administrator was in Washington DC for what he surely hoped would be a celebration with lawmakers and the US president, little more than two weeks after the successful conclusion of the first human journey around the moon in more than half a century.

Instead, last week began with some difficult questions in Congress about the Trump administration’s unpopular plan to slash the space agency’s budget. It ended at the White House with the president appearing to poke fun at his prominent ears, watched by four bemused Artemis II astronauts waiting in vain for any question about their historic mission.

Republicans ‘concerned’ after Trump threatens to withdraw more US troops from Germany

US announced withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers last week after German chancellor said US was being ‘humiliated’ by Iran

Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw more US troops from Germany after stunning European leaders and some senior members of his own party by last week announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.

The move left 30,000 US troops still in the country, according to CNN. But Trump threatened on Saturday that more cuts were coming. “We are going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters on Saturday.

A tool to help keep dementia in check

Many people fear that a family history of dementia dooms them to inevitably suffer the condition themselves. But a new tool, the Brain Care Score, shows how lifestyle changes can be beneficial, cutting the risk of dementia. National Public Radio correspondent Allison Aubrey talks with neurologist Dr. Jonathan Rosand about how making changes to your daily habits might just be the prescription needed.

Horsepower: How horses are therapeutic

Horses can form powerful bonds with people owing to their ability to sense and feel human emotions. Endeavor Therapeutic Horsemanship, in Bedford Corners, N.Y., has programs that help people with disabilities, veterans with PTSD, and the incarcerated through interactions with their horses. "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl reports.

2 U.S. service members missing amid training exercise in Morocco

The service members were participating in African Lion, the largest joint military exercise on the continent.

I have an amazing holiday to look forward to – and all I can think about is how I’ll mess it up | Emma Beddington

The internet was supposed to make travel easier. But the more I research my destination, the more I worry about visiting the wrong bits of it

In the 1980s, a friend of my father navigated through Europe in a camper van with his family using only the map in the back of a pocket diary. He crossed France believing “aujourd’hui” meant “please”; you can imagine the reception he got from Parisians asking for “coffee, today”.

I keep thinking about this as I try but fail to plan my own family trip, despite all the 2026 resources at my disposal. We’re going to Japan for a fortnight in September and preparations have stalled: I’m dithering and my husband is exasperated and panicking, insisting we “get organised” and “just book something”. If it were up to him, he’d Google “two weeks Japan” and go for what the internet disgorges with zero agonising (he chooses restaurants by searching Google Maps for wherever’s nearby with a score above 4).

‘Christofascism’ is here: inside the slow demolition of US public health | Adrienne Matei

From prescribing spiritual warfare to demonizing health experts, RFK Jr’s health empire has become a dangerous vehicle for a Christian nationalist worldview

In February 2025, Robert F Kennedy Jr began his tenure as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with an unusual message for the federal department responsible for protecting public health.

America’s greatest challenge, he said, was not just chronic disease but a “spiritual malaise”, a kind of soul-sickness derived from America’s moral decline.

Young Americans have soured on Trump | Steven Greenhouse

The president’s approval rating with those under 30 has plummeted as he has failed to deliver on promise after promise

Republicans rejoiced when far more young voters than expected backed Donald Trump in 2024, with many of them moved by Trump’s grandiose promises, such as his vow to “build the greatest economy in the history of the world”. But Republicans should be alarmed that so many 18- to 29-year-olds have soured on Trump – his approval rating with that group has sunk from 48% in January 2025 to between just 25% and 33% in recent months, according to polls by YouGov/the Economist.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that millions of young Americans have turned against Trump, considering that he has failed to deliver on so many promises, most notably his vow to reduce prices on day one. For young people, inflation is the No 1 economic issue, far outpacing other issues, and they very much wanted Trump to focus on affordability, but Trump has focused on everything but affordability. He’s focused instead on his glitzy, $400m ballroom, his war against Iran (which has increased gas prices), and his tariff wars (which have increased overall inflation). In bad news for Republicans, 78% of Americans under age 30 disapprove of how Trump is handling inflation.

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

Readers reply: The Missouri tofu spill was ‘unforgettable’ – but what are history’s greatest bad smells?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

This week’s question: The inside of my cardigans never become bobbled. Can’t the pieces be sewn together inside out?

I must admit to cracking a smile when I read the story about the revolting result of a tofu spill last month in Missouri. About 18,000kg (40,000lb) of extra-firm tofu was left to rot for three weeks after a road accident – no one was hurt – turned into an insurance dispute. Local officials described the smell as “unforgettable” and “like a dead animal, but worse”. So, what are history’s greatest bad smells? Liz Prior, Southampton

Send new questions to [email protected].

Jewish Londoners deserve to live without fear – we are taking action to ensure their safety | Sadiq Khan

During dark times, we must stand by our Jewish neighbours as generations of Londoners have done before us

• Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London

Jewish people are living in fear – a fear that has been building for years but has become acute in recent weeks. It now seeps into every part of daily life: the school run, a walk down the high street, a meal in a restaurant, attending synagogue on Shabbat.

Jewish friends and colleagues have spoken to me about how they now find themselves looking over their shoulder in public and worrying about their children wearing religious symbols. This is heartbreaking. It is utterly unacceptable that Jewish people are having to live like this.

Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Hobby horsing and a giant wicker man: photos of the weekend

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

Two US service members missing after military exercises in Morocco

Search and rescue operation launched after service members reported missing near south-western city of Tan Tan

Two US service members are missing in south-western Morocco after taking part in annual multinational military exercises in the North African country, the United States Africa Command (Africom) said Sunday.

The US, Morocco and other countries participating in the African Lion exercise have launched a search and rescue operation, Africom said.

Embiid urges 76ers fans not to sell playoff tickets to Knicks fans: ‘If you need money, I’ve got you’

• 76ers center leads team to playoff with over Celtics

• Sixers due to face rival Knicks in next round

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers advanced to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, beating the Jayson Tatum-less Boston Celtics 109-100 on Saturday night to complete a comeback from a 3-1 deficit for just the 14th time in NBA playoff history.

Embiid finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey added 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. VJ Edgecombe scored 23 points and Paul George had 13.

Arsenal ponder fine margins after OL Lyonnes defeat but Gunners are not in decline | Tom Garry

Tight decisions and Arsenal’s fragility from set pieces saw French side through to Women’s Champions League final

Fine margins defined this football match. Just a few centimetres, in the key moments. As OL Lyonnes owner Michele Kang celebrated on the pitch, arm-in-arm with her players with the Arsenal squad’s faces a picture of total dejection, those tiny differentials will have felt wider than the Rhône which runs through the city. Arsenal’s reign as European champions has ended.

Up in the top tier, overlooking the scene with almost a bird’s-eye view, around 600 Arsenal fans had reason to be proud but ultimately were despondent. It was barely the thickness of a French baguette that had kept Jule Brand onside when her late winning goal for OL Lyonnes was reviewed by the VAR. In similarly agonising fashion, Arsenal’s Daphne van Domselaar stepped off her line just too early when initially saving a first-half penalty, which Wendie Renard retook and scored. But if those travelling Arsenal supporters were reflecting honestly, Lyonnes were worthy winners.

How to make the perfect Spanish broad bean stew – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

This simple Spanish classic will convince even staunch fava-phobics to give beans a chance

I always feel sorry for broad beans, the lumpy cousin perpetually overshadowed by the charms of slender, elegant asparagus and sweet, bouncy, little peas. They’re in season at roughly the same time, but asparagus in particular gets all the glory, perhaps because so many of us are scarred by childhood experiences of large, grey wrinkly beans served in a floury white sauce (my own parents are so averse to the things that I vividly remember the first time I came across them on a Sunday roast as a teenager and had to ask a friend what they were).

Unsurprising though it is, given our general scepticism with regard to pulses, the British lack of enthusiasm for the broad bean is a particular shame, because it’s been an important part of the European diet since ancient times. As the Oxford Companion to Food explains, however, they are also linked to a “superstitious dread” possibly associated with “a general belief that the souls of the dead might migrate into beans”. Having eaten a lot of the things in the process of writing this piece, I can reassure nervous readers that no haunting has yet taken place, and that this Spanish way with them is all but guaranteed to convince even the staunchest of fava phobics. Go on: give them a try.

Republicans appear split on idea of clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell

House panel divided on whether Trump should pardon Maxwell so she can cooperate with Epstein investigation

The possibility of clemency for Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, however unlikely, has long outraged survivors and their advocates who view the former British socialite’s lengthy jail sentence as giving them some justice in the long-running saga.

Recent reporting that a pardon for Maxwell is now being discussed supportively in some circles, however, has highlighted how Epstein and Maxwell remain a political minefield for Republicans and Donald Trump – while presenting yet another blow to survivors’ fight for transparency.

Trump casts doubt on Iran peace deal and says Tehran has not ‘paid a big enough price’

US president to review Iranian proposal but signals scepticism amid deadlock and fears of renewed strikes

Donald Trump has said he is reviewing the latest peace proposal from Tehran, but cast doubt on the prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough by claiming Iran had not yet “paid a big enough price” for its past wrongs.

Trump’s remarks came amid growing speculation over the possibility of another round of US strikes against Iran aimed at forcing concessions, including a halt to the country’s nuclear programme.

‘What dishes did they eat?’: the Beijing restaurant dining out on Starmer visit

In and Out has been fully booked since PM ate there, with patrons able to choose from special menu based on his meal

Whatever the ins and outs of Westminster politics, Keir Starmer can take small comfort in the fact that there is one place where he is consistently popular. It just happens to be 5,000 miles away.

In and Out, an upmarket restaurant in Beijing, has been fully booked since Starmer and his team dined there in January during the first visit by a British prime minister to China since 2018.

Polanski says he would discourage ‘globalise the intifada’ chant but warns against march bans

Green party leader says specifically outlawing controversial phrase would restrict freedom of speech

Zack Polanski has said he would discourage pro-Palestine protesters from using the chant “globalise the intifada”, but the Green party leader warned against specifically outlawing the phrase or banning a protest planned in London later this month.

Speaking earlier in the weekend, Keir Starmer called for “tougher action” against marchers using the chant after last week’s attack on Jewish people in Golders Green, saying pro-Gaza marches risked having a cumulative effect of being intimidating.

‘I wanted it to feel both Shakespearean and like Jay-Z’: debut author Sufiyaan Salam on masculinity, rap and meeting Stormzy

Bringing Manchester’s Curry Mile to vibrant life, the #Merky prize-winning author’s cross-genre work focuses on the lives and language of young British men. He discusses identity and inspiration

On a stretch of Manchester road known for kebabs, shisha smoke and restless energy, three young men drive towards a night that already feels like it’s slipping out of control. The premise of Wimmy Road Boyz, the debut novel by #Merky books new writers’ prize winner Sufiyaan Salam, is deceptively simple: “three boyz drive and dream of an impossible night on an endless street”. What follows is anything but.

Salam’s novel unfolds over a single evening on the Curry Mile, that dense artery of Rusholme nightlife, where a white BMW carries Immy, Khan and Haris through a series of skirmishes, side quests and emotional unravellings. It’s a book about masculinity, violence and love, but also about language – how young British men speak, perform and fail to articulate what’s really going on inside their heads.

Will human minds still be special in an age of AI?

We tend to think of intelligence like height – and imagine ourselves being overtaken. That misses the point

Until recently, we humans have been able to be smug about our abilities. No other animals play boardgames, write essays or prove mathematical theorems. But lately, progress in AI seems as though it might challenge our self-image as the smartest entities around. AI systems not only beat us at the most complicated games, but can also write polished prose and win medals in maths. Tech CEOs promise us that superhuman AI is just round the corner. So, in an age of AI, are human minds still special, or merely also-rans?

Talking about superhuman AI assumes that intelligence is a single scale. My parents used to mark the heights of my younger brother and me on the doorframe of our laundry. Each year he would get a little closer to me, until one year the unthinkable happened and he outgrew me (he’s now 6ft 3in). The current moment feels a bit like that, as we look at these new younger siblings with concern that they might overtake us.

‘I was mortally offended’: writers on the throwaway comments that changed their lives

Can a sentence affect the course of your life? Five authors reveal the interactions that transformed the way they saw themselves – and the world

When I was 14, I had to start a new school. I wasn’t great at starting new schools, even though I had done so quite a few times – once for my dad’s work, once because I wasn’t fitting in at my primary school and once because my parents didn’t like the teachers. Of course, 14 is possibly the most awkward of all the ages to start a new anything. Anyway, it was halfway through the first term at the new school in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and I was taken aside by my history teacher, Mr Philips, at the end of a lesson. He didn’t like me very much. To be fair, I was probably hard to like, from a teacher’s perspective. I had trouble concentrating, I stared out of windows, I clowned around. However, it is difficult to explain the shock to my self-conscious teenage soul when he told me, “I think it would be a good idea for you to join a special needs class.” Now, for context, the year was 1989, and in my state comprehensive at that time the idea of being “special needs” was akin to being given a leprosy bell or being marked with a cross for the plague. It was a binary system. You were either “normal” or you were “special needs”. To make matters worse, I was told that another teacher – my art teacher – had come to a similar assessment.

The supreme court trusts America not to be racist. I don’t | Jamil Smith

The Callais decision is predicated on the idea that American leaders will act justly on their own. That premise has already been proven hollow

Six supreme court justices handed down a ruling built, ostensibly, on the belief that the US has changed so much as to render the protections of the Voting Rights Act unnecessary. No one should be that gullible.

In 1901, the same year my great-grandfather was born, George H White rose to address the 56th United States Congress for the last time. He was a Republican congressman from North Carolina – the only Black member of the entire body. He was leaving because the state he represented had passed legislation making his re-election impossible. Reconstruction had already been undone. The powers that be had narrowed, then deferred, then erased the promise of multiracial democracy, written in the blood of Union soldiers and freed people alike.

Trump may not be a fan of clean energy but Iran war is accelerating global shift from oil and gas | Heather Stewart

Unintended consequence of US president’s actions will be boon for China, the leading renewables manufacturer

Operation Epic Fury has thus far achieved none of Donald Trump’s war aims, but it may well accelerate the global transition towards the clean energy he loves to hate.

Last week brought the latest exchange of verbal blows in the standoff over the strait of Hormuz. Iran was “choking like a stuffed pig” on the oil it was unable to export because of the US blockade, Trump claimed.

This is how we do it: ‘An intimacy menu reignited my sex drive after early menopause’

Linda lost her sexual appetite after a hysterectomy, but making a list of sex cues with partner Elias helped her regain her desire
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

Since everything on the list is something we both like, when he sends me a suggestion it turns me on

He recorded his quest for tariff refunds. It shows why billions may never get repaid

After the Supreme Court struck down most of President Trump's tariffs, Richard Brown began lining up the paperwork he needed to get his refund. Experts say many businesses may never get their money back.

Gaza flotilla activists from Spain and Brazil appear in Israeli court

Court extends detention of two men who were among 175 people intercepted in Mediterranean on Thursday

Two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla who were brought to Israel for interrogation have appeared before an Israeli court, a rights group defending them has said.

The flotilla of more than 50 vessels had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza and bringing supplies to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Spotify has ruined mood playlists – so our critics have made some better ones instead

Whether made by human hand or shady algorithm, emotion-based playlists are everywhere. But if you’re looking for a superior soundtrack to ‘all the feels’, get your ears round these selections from our music writers

Music might be the greatest mood enhancer in the world: it’s certainly hard to think of another art form that can so effectively tip a feeling of happiness into euphoria or create a suitably gloomy space in which to wallow in melancholy. There have always been albums designed to evoke a certain mood, from Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely to Essential Chill Out Vol 2. But in recent years, we seem to have become more interested in the relationship between music and mood. Streaming services are thick with mood-based playlists. There appear to be hundreds of the things on Spotify, from the straightforward (Happy Vibes) to the vague (All the Feels), and they appear to have struck a nerve: Spotify’s own curated mood playlists are now vastly outnumbered by user-generated ones, soundtracking everything from Friday at the Office to – I swear I’m not making this up – Losing Someone to Suicide.

There are those who have detected something sinister in all this. Liz Pelly’s 2025 book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist suggests that the Spotify’s seeming obsession with mood-based playlists is linked to its focus on what it calls “lean-back consumers” – not ardent music fans, but the kind of people who would once have turned the radio on in the morning and left it burbling quietly away all day. These playlists, Pelly suggests, exist as a latterday equivalent of muzak, designed to be as unobtrusive, unsurprising and unadventurous as possible, to seamlessly play in the background without really being noticed.

Why this tribe is buying up hundreds of acres of farmland — and flooding it

The Stillaguamish Tribe in Washington state has been buying land in its traditional territory and removing levees. The goal is to turn farmland into wetlands with the hopes of restoring Chinook salmon.

How algorithms wreaked havoc with these workers' schedules and cut their pay

Hourly workers across a number of industries have long been grappling with unstable schedules and pay as their employers use software to slash labor costs and maximize productivity.

Mystery sitter in Holbein portrait could be Anne Boleyn, AI analysis finds

Researchers say works may have been incorrectly inscribed in 1700s, leading to centuries-long misunderstanding

They are two small sketches by the Renaissance master Hans Holbein: one has long been considered to be a portrait of Henry VIII’s doomed second wife, Anne Boleyn, and the other is of an unknown woman whose name was lost to time.

Now researchers using AI have discovered that the unnamed woman might be the tragic queen after all, while the other figure could in fact be Boleyn’s mother.

‘It’s like a cat and mouse game’: on the frontline of Belgium’s fight against drug smugglers

Antwerp port is stepping up scanning of goods amid warnings country risks becoming a narco-state

Sara Van Cotthem takes a safety knife and precisely slices open the side of a cardboard box to unpack its contents, an aluminium stepladder made in China. Working under harsh fluorescent lights at the border inspection post at the port of Antwerp, Van Cotthem checks the paperwork and taps the ladder with a magnet to check if it really is aluminium and not another metal.

It is an everyday operation for customs officers at Antwerp, one of Europe’s main commercial gateways, which handled the equivalent of 13.6m 20ft-long (6 metres) containers last year. Everything is in order and the lorry, jam-packed with identical boxed ladders, can get on its way to Germany.

‘Our rivalry with Take That was always tongue in cheek’: Tony Mortimer’s honest playlist

The East 17 man knows his 90s bangers but once inadvertently cleared a dancefloor. And what song gets him on the exercise bike in a morning?

The first single I bought
Shut Up by Madness, from a record shop on Hoe Street in Walthamstow, London. It gave me a kind of independence in the world when I could choose what I wanted. And as a nine-year-old, you could find 10p down the back of the sofa and get a Madness badge at the market to stick on your coat.

The song I do at karaoke
I’ve only done karaoke once, really loud and absolutely inebriated on sake in Japan. I’d had a few and thought: “This isn’t really doing much”, then it hit me like a hammer. That was a messy night. If I had to do karaoke now, I’d do East 17’s House of Love, because at least I’d remember the words.

Reform frontbench promotes JCB’s pothole machine after firm’s £200,000 donation

Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and Robert Jenrick, among others, have sung the praises of the JCB PotHole Pro

Reform UK’s leading figures have repeatedly promoted a new pothole-fixing machine by the construction company JCB, while the party received £200,000 from the British digger maker, the Guardian can reveal.

Several Reform politicians including Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Robert Jenrick, Zia Yusuf and Richard Tice have sung the praises of the JCB PotHole Pro machine.

Stopping to admire wisteria and taking pride in your laundry? Join me in the land of grownups | Polly Hudson

I’ve recently noticed several signs of adulthood in my behaviour. At first I was horrified, but I have come to accept, even enjoy, the natural ageing process

I nearly drove into a wall the other day, because I couldn’t take my eyes off some spectacular wisteria. Ten years ago I doubt I would have even noticed it, or known what it was, never mind been so transfixed that I unwittingly endangered my life. It’s pretty much invisible in your youth, and then suddenly, at a certain age, or stage, you see it, appreciate it and become mesmerised by its impressive display.

My botanical brush with death was the moment that I knew for certain: no matter how I feel inside, I am now unquestionably a grownup. This wisteria hysteria isn’t an isolated incident, of course. There have been several other definitely adult signifiers:

Stalked woman shot at 14 times by ex-boyfriend during horrific 911 call

Gloria Choi and her friends called Lakewood, Washington, 911 four times in 48 hours to report her being stalked by an ex-boyfriend. Two days later, he ran her off the road and riddled her truck with bullets as she was on the line with a 911 dispatcher.

‘A diverse and convivial village’: the urban eye candy of Notre-Dame du Mont, Marseille

This buzzy quarter is best enjoyed on one of the many tree-lined terraces, eating gourmet wraps, sipping bio wine and listening to live jazz

Named for its 19th-century neoclassical church, Notre-Dame du Mont was once a site where sailors who’d survived shipwrecks and storms made offerings of thanks. Now locals and visitors make a pilgrimage to this vibrant quarter for its restaurants, indie shops and street art. Voted Time Out’s coolest neighbourhood in the world in 2024, Notre-Dame du Mont has retained its laid-back charm while continuing to grow, stretching south on Rue de Lodi. Since December 2025, the church’s parvis has been pedestrianised. Removing the urban roar of scooters has returned the quarter to its village-like ambience – best enjoyed on one of the many tree-lined terraces.

My mother is addicted to gaming and emotionally unavailable. What should I do? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Her actions may be numbing pain she feels in other areas of her life, so you must approach the issue thoughtfully

My mother is in her 70s and addicted to playing video games such as Tetris, many different versions of solitaire and slot machine gambling games.

In the 1990s my parents bought a desktop computer and my mum started to play mostly card games on it for hours. As technology has progressed, she moved to a laptop and now a smartphone. When my sisters and I were younger, we used to joke about her gaming, but we’ve come to realise it has affected our relationships as she has never been emotionally available. When I’m with Mum now, she always has her phone in her hand and will be playing a game even when I’m talking to her. I never feel I have her full attention. She is like this with other family members too and it’s become a bit of a family joke.

From shared toothbrushes to mid-sex water bladders, You Be the Judge tries to settle domestic disputes. But what happened next?

For five years, our column has attempted to settle rows about the important little things … but what happens after the verdicts are in?

Since 2021, I’ve had one of the most brilliantly nosy jobs in journalism. Writing Saturday magazine’s You be the judge column has let me into the interior lives of others, lifting the lid on the everyday irritations that grind people’s gears in their closest relationships. It’s the pettiness that gets people going. I’ve interviewed couples at war over alarms and dishcloths, girlfriends disagreeing about dog care, and sisters who cohabit and argue about their sex lives.

With interviews conducted online and in person, I’ve accumulated domestic disputes from every corner of the globe which have also sparked heated debates online. Part small-claims court, part sociological experiment, You be the judge turns low-stakes grievances into battles that somehow feel life-or-death, and it’s fascinating to see which minor injustices ignite the fiercest debates.

Nato meetings with TV and film-makers prompt claims it is seeking ‘propaganda’

Exclusive: Two ‘intimate conversations’ held with writers, directors and producers, with a third due in June

Nato is holding closed-door meetings with film and TV screenwriters, directors and producers across Europe and the US, the Guardian can reveal, prompting accusations the alliance is seeking to use the arts to generate “propaganda” for the bloc.

The alliance has held three meetings with film and TV professionals in Los Angeles, Brussels and Paris and is due to continue its “series of intimate conservations” next month in London, meeting with screenwriter members of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), which represents professional writers in the UK.

‘You’re not one of us, are you?’: How a Ukrainian soldier survived two weeks in a Russian dugout

When Vadym Lietunov spotted a fortified position after his own had been blown up, he didn’t realise it belonged to the enemy

The bombing began the morning after Vadym Lietunov arrived on the frontline. It went on for six or seven hours each day. The Russians hit the dugout where he was sheltering with kamikaze drones and mortars. After every strike, Lietunov and another Ukrainian soldier, Sasha, repaired the damage, extinguishing fires with bottles of urine and shoving clay-filled sacks back into position. “The enemy knew we were there. It was trying to kill us,” he said.

In late February Russian drone operators tried a new tactic. They sent in a Molniya drone carrying an anti-tank mine. It exploded next to the entrance, leaving the two soldiers concussed and shaking. There were several similar attacks before Lietunov heard an ominous buzz. This time, a mine fell on top of their foxhole. “I look up and we’ve got no roof. It blew everything up,” he recalled.

Welcome to Anxietyland: I used alcohol to hide my fear – but booze became a very bad friend

Gemma Correll has suffered from anxiety and depression disorders since childhood, and at 16 she discovered a magical elixir that promised to make her feel better. In this extract from her new book, she shows how that promise was broken

In 2018, I was in my 30s and living in Oakland, California, having moved there from the UK in 2015. I had always struggled with anxiety and panic attacks, but I was doing fairly well – until suddenly I wasn’t. I started having back-to-back panic attacks, wandering the streets of Oakland and nearby Berkeley in a desperate attempt to shake them, without success.

Spirit Airlines shutting down after failed effort at government rescue deal

The budget carrier Spirit Airlines is ceasing operations after failing to land a $500 million bailout from the Trump administration.

Vehicle carrying explosives crashes into Portland athletic club, driver dead

A vehicle carrying explosives crashed through the front entrance of an athletic club in downtown Portland, Oregon. The driver was killed.

Mexican governor and mayor indicted by US for drug trafficking step down

Two members of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s party in Sinaloa state have temporarily stepped down after the US charged them with drug trafficking

Two members of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s party in the north-western Sinaloa state said they would temporarily step down from their posts after the United States charged them and eight other politicians and security officers with drug trafficking.

The bombshell indictment against the 10 has shaken Mexico’s political establishment.

Germany says U.S. troop withdrawal 'anticipated', Spain and Italy could be next

Germany's defense minister is playing down the impact of the Pentagon's decision to pull 5,000 troops from the country, but the move has rattled NATO allies and added to growing fears that Europe can no longer rely on Washington.

'Godspeed my friend': Inside the final hours of Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines ceased operations overnight after a failed government bailout.

Antonelli beats Verstappen to F1 Miami GP pole as storm threat brings race forward by three hours

• Antonelli seals third straight pole in tight contest

• Race will now start at 1pm local time

Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the Miami Grand Prix with a strong lap, but only by narrowly beating a resurgent Max Verstappen and Red Bull into second place.

After the session had finished, the FIA, F1 and the Miami promoter issued a joint statement announcing the start of Sunday’s race had been brought forward from 4pm to 1pm local time – 6pm BST – because of heavy thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon.

Golden Tempo wins 152nd Kentucky Derby, making history for its trainer

Cherie DeVaux became the first woman to train the winner of the opening leg of the Triple Crown.

Bard College's president to retire after scrutiny of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

The longtime president of Bard College in New York has announced his retirement, months after it was revealed that he had a much deeper relationship than was previously known with Jeffrey Epstein.

What will a Spirit Airlines shutdown mean for travelers?

Have tickets to fly on Spirit? Here's what to know about refunds and alternative flights as the budget airline ceases operations.

Drugmaker asks Supreme Court to halt ruling blocking online access to mifepristone

A maker of the widely used abortion pill mifepristone​ asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to block an appellate court ruling that cut off mail-order access to the drug just a day earlier.

Meet the Kentucky Derby horses who ran in the 2026 race

The Kentucky Derby saw a field of 18 horses Saturday in the first leg of the 2026 competition for horse racing's Triple Crown.

Golden Tempo takes the Kentucky Derby as Cherie DeVaux becomes the 1st woman to train its winner

Golden Tempo has won the Kentucky Derby at odds of 23-1 to make Cherie DeVaux the first woman to train the winner of the opening leg of the Triple Crown.

Iran submits 14-point response to U.S. proposal to end war

Iran has presented a 14-point response to the U.S. proposal to end the war, according to Iranian state media.

Mountain lion cub with missing toes rescued after being discovered alone in California

A mountain lion cub missing some toes was found alone in the Santa Monica Mountains at just three weeks old. Crimson is now being cared for at the Oakland Zoo, and has clawed his way into people's hearts. Itay Hod has the story.

Marine heatwave off California threatens extreme weather events

The ocean off California keeps breaking heat records. Experts say it could produce a stormy summer that may threaten lives. Max Darrow explains.

States scramble to redistrict after Supreme Court limits Voting Rights Act

Alabama and Tennessee are the latest states rushing to redraw congressional districts after a Supreme Court ruling that further weakens the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nikole Killion reports.

Trump says U.S. Navy is "sort of like pirates" in Strait of Hormuz

President Trump compared the U.S. Navy to pirates, as it enforces the blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. also warned shipping companies that they could face penalties for paying tolls to Iran to safely pass through the critical waterway. Ramy Inocencio has more.

Rising oil prices cause political headache for Trump administration

Saturday marked 61 days since the start of the war with Iran, and gas prices continue to soar. Olivia Gazis reports on how rising prices are causing new political issues for President Trump.

No more runway for Spirit Airlines as budget carrier shuts down

Discount carrier Spirit Airlines ceased operations on Saturday. It had been struggling with skyrocketing fuel costs and mountains of debt. A proposed government bailout plan unraveled, leaving thousands of passengers, employees and investors in limbo. Ali Bauman reports from Newark's Liberty International Airport.

5/2: CBS Weekend News

Spirit Airlines collapses, stranding passengers; gas prices keep surging across the country.

Kentucky Derby brings eye-catching looks, from statement hats to standout suits

Held every spring in Louisville, Kentucky, the event is also known for its over-the-top hats and vibrant suits and dresses.

Timmy the stranded whale rescued after weekslong effort

Timmy captured the hearts of whale lovers across the globe who rooted for a happy ending for the humpback.

Academy announces major overhaul to rules

The new rules focus on areas such as AI protections for writers and actors and expanded eligibility for international films.

Arteta urges Arsenal to ‘use momentum’ from Fulham win in Atlético showdown

• Arsenal put pressure on Manchester City with 3-0 win

• First-half performance ‘one of the best’ this season

Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal team had played some of their best football of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Fulham and demanded that they take the positive feelings into the return leg of their Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.

Arsenal picked a fine time to recover their attacking flow, Viktor Gyökeres scoring either side of a Bukayo Saka goal to give them an unassailable half-time lead. The result took them six points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, albeit their rivals have two games in hand – the first of which is at Everton on Monday night.

The moment I knew: ‘We didn’t speak the same language but somehow we understood each other’

When Federica met Oskar, she thought their Google translate-powered romance would be brief, but soon they were planning their future restaurant together

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2013 I moved from Milan to work as a pastry chef in Marano Vicentino, a tiny town in the region of Veneto. My new boss was the youngest chef to be awarded a Michelin star in Italy and I was excited by the opportunity to work at El Coq, living in the staff sharehouse and learning everything I could.

I’d been there a year when Oskar arrived on the scene. A fellow chef and friend of my boss, he had been working on a boat somewhere and was going to stay with us in the sharehouse for a few weeks and spend some time in the kitchen helping us develop the menu.

When I was seven, Jack Nicholson vomited cherry juice on me – it certainly beat doing schoolwork

Sassica Francis-Bruce regularly joined her father – a film editor – on set. As she grew older she loved working beside him in the cutting room

I clearly remember the first time I had a soda because it was the same day Jack Nicholson threw up on me. Deliberately. He’d burst through the doors of a church and began a profanity-riddled tirade against God and women as he gesticulated madly and accosted churchgoers.

When he reached the front row where I sat and turned towards me, I froze. His eyes were abnormally alert, his hair wild and uncombed and saliva dripped from his mouth like a Neapolitan mastiff.

Taiwan's Lai lands in Eswatini in a trip delayed by lack of overflight clearance

Eswatini remains the only African nation without tariff-free access to China's market due to its ties with Taiwan.

5/2: Saturday Morning

Spirit Airlines announced it will cease operations after failing to secure a federal bailout. Meanwhile, President Trump rejected Iran's latest peace proposal.

Organisers challenge Starmer’s threat to ban some pro-Palestine marches

PM says there are instances in which he would support bans but organisers say this would ‘strike at root of free speech’

Organisers of pro-Palestine marches have said Keir Starmer’s threat to ban some demonstrations opposing Israel’s actions in the Middle East will “strike at the root of free assembly and free speech” in the UK.

On Saturday morning, the prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “there are instances” in which he would support stopping some pro-Palestine protests altogether.

"This is it tonight": Spirit Airlines pilots sign off on final flights

Air traffic control audio records showed the exchanges between controllers and the pilots of some of Spirit Airlines' final flights

Two buses, three hours and 13 miles: how Americans in ‘transit deserts’ get groceries without cars

As Covid-era funding dries up and bus services are cut, a food insecurity crisis is brewing from Tennessee to Rhode Island

Zen’Yari Winters’ job, at a pet shop in East Memphis, Tennessee, should be a 20-minute trip from her house. She leaves herself three hours to get there. “The bus is always, always late,” she said – if it shows up at all.

It’s not just her work commute that’s affected by the time-consuming guessing game that is riding with the Memphis Area Transit Authority (Mata). The only full-service grocer in the Chelsea-Hollywood area where she lives closed in 2025. To shop for food in person, she could take two buses for a 13-mile (20km) trip to Walmart. But she risks waiting at bus stops for hours with perishables – or shelling out about $24 for an Uber back.

Badenoch apologises after Bloody Sunday footage used in post defending UK veterans

Tory leader says she did not sign off on video attacking Labour’s Troubles legacy proposals

Kemi Badenoch has apologised after footage from Bloody Sunday was used in social media posts criticising a bill on legacy issues in Northern Ireland.

The Conservative leader said on Saturday that she did not sign off on the use of a clip from the massacre, in which British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civil rights demonstrators in Derry, and that it was distributed by “very young people”.

Spirit Airlines shuts down after failing to secure government bailout

Spirit Airlines announced early Saturday morning that it would immediately cease operations after failing to secure a last-minute government bailout.

‘They don’t belong in our environment’: US vineyards battle spotted lanternflies as invasive insects spread

From Virginia to New York, the bugs drain vines, cut yields and leave growers resorting to one simple fix: squash them

Around grape harvest time about three years ago, an employee at Zephaniah Farm Vineyard in Leesburg, Virginia, noticed bugs, about 1in long with gray and black wings and a bright red underwing, atop some trees.

While the insects were pretty, they were there for the grapevines and not welcome guests at the vineyard, which sits atop a farm that the Zephaniah family has run since 1949.

Official lineup confirmed for second series of The Celebrity Traitors

Actors Richard E Grant, Michael Sheen and Bella Ramsey among star-studded cast hoping for victory as BBC’s hit spin-off series returns to screens

Considering the Traitors is a game of murderous treachery played out in a castle, the Shakespearean actors in the cast of the new celebrity spin-off series should be well set.

Oscar-nominated Richard E Grant, acclaimed actor Michael Sheen and The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey will be among the thespians vying for victory this year, all of whom have the Bard on their CV.

Spirit Airlines shut down. Here's what travelers need to know if they have tickets

What travelers who are ticketed on Spirit Airlines need to know.

Rescuers release humpback whale that was stranded off German coast

Calf was transported by water-filled barge in operation deemed ‘inadvisable’ because of low chance of survival

Rescuers have released a young humpback whale that became a national sensation after it was beached in shallow waters off the coast in Germany, although marine experts have said its chances of survival are low.

The whale, variously nicknamed Timmy or Hope, was released into the North Sea off Denmark after being transported there in a water-filled barge by rescuers.

‘Sick of swiping’: the dating event where your mates make the pitch for you

‘Date My Mate’ nights, which involve pitching a friend to a room of singles, are gaining momentum across the country

For many young people, the dating game has been nothing but a thankless task of endless swiping and ghosting, with little hope of finding love.

But as dating apps fall out of favour, and a relationship recession looms, young singles have discovered a new way to revive the dating scene: talking up their pals to strangers.

To give young people wings: The Lost Words duo reunite for book of birds

Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane give the Guardian exclusive extracts as they aim to open eyes to the wonder of Britain’s declining and endangered species

When the artist Jackie Morris collaborated with the writer Robert Macfarlane to celebrate the names of plants and animals controversially removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, they never imagined their book, The Lost Words, would become a cultural phenomenon.

Grassroots crowdfunding ensured the book was bought and donated to more than three-quarters of primary schools in England, Wales and Scotland and to every hospice in the country.

‘Go inside, he will kill you’: Israeli militants step up West Bank school attacks

Education is being targeted across Palestine, with the murder of 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan only the latest in a spree of violence

The Israeli reservist shot 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan in the head just outside the western gate of the Mughayyir boys’ secondary school, where he was studying in ninth grade.

Aws collapsed instantly, bleeding heavily. More shots rang out as his friends ran to his side, picked up his now-limp body and rushed him out of the line of fire, their path along the school wall marked by a trail of their classmate’s blood.

‘Was she going to an appointment, maybe even a romantic one?’: ASA’s best phone picture

The Corsican photographer’s patience paid off when they captured this stunning silhouette of a young woman

Anonymity has been an intriguing concept for ASA since they first took up photography. They shot this image in their home town of Bastia, on the French island of Corsica. This was 2018, in the height of summer, “when the sun was at its strongest. I like working when the light is very strong and the facades are burned by the sun,” ASA says. “Shadows fall very sharply, shapes become clearer, colours become stronger and people turn into silhouettes.”

After positioning themselves unobtrusively on one side of the street with their iPhone X, ASA waited patiently for some time as strangers passed through their frame. “This woman was walking with a certain lightness, almost cheerful. When I looked again afterwards, I had the feeling she might be going to an appointment, maybe even a romantic one. But at the time, I simply saw a young woman moving, carried by her own energy.”

Asylum seeker sent back to France in ‘one in, one out’ scheme to be returned to Syria

Kurdish Syrian man, 26, said he fled forced conscription by YPG militia because he ‘didn’t want to kill people’

An asylum seeker sent back to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme faces being returned to Syria after authorities in Paris ruled it was safe to do so, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

When the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the “groundbreaking” deal in July 2025 to stop small boats crowded with asylum seekers from crossing the Channel – by forcibly returning one small-boat asylum seeker to France in exchange for bringing one in northern France legally to the UK – they emphasised that France was a safe country for returnees.

‘One of the most profound encounters of my life’: could existential therapist Emmy van Deurzen change the way you think?

Her philosophical approach to therapy has become a global phenomenon, and inspired a new book. Could a session with her change Sophie McBain’s life?

The existential therapist Emmy van Deurzen moved to the UK inspired by RD Laing, the Scottish anti-psychiatrist who said insanity is a “perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world”. It was 1977 and Van Deurzen, who is Dutch and had studied philosophy and psychology in France, found work with the Arbours Association in London, a therapeutic community based on Laing’s ideas, in which people in crisis, psychiatrists and therapists lived together as equals. It was a rude awakening.

Arbours aimed to create space for people to “explore their madness”. “Now that was a very interesting idea,” Van Duerzen says, “but in practice it meant that people self-medicated, with alcohol and pot, and it was not a happy situation.” The residents were often very depressed or psychotic, and it was common to be woken up at night because someone was seeing things or had become suicidal. Van Deurzen came to believe that anti-psychiatry had “lost courage”: it had proposed a different way of thinking about madness, but having released people from asylums and taken them off neuroleptic drugs, it was “kind of leaving them to it”. “And this is what I realised wasn’t good enough,” she says. When people are experiencing a mental health crisis, they need help to make sense of what has happened to them, and to find their way to healing. “From that moment on I just knew: nobody’s doing this. I’m going to have to do it myself,” she says.

‘Such huge consequences’: pressure mounts on France to act on enslavement reparatory justice

As a Mast of Fraternity and Memory is unveiled in Nantes, calls are growing for Macron to announce framework for discussions

In the French port city of Nantes, once France’s largest departure point for ships that trafficked enslaved Africans across the Atlantic, a new wooden mast rises 18 metres into the sky from the waterside.

The Mast of Fraternity and Memory, inaugurated this month, marks a turning point in France’s complicated relationship with the legacy of its history of enslavement – just as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, comes under pressure to make key announcements on a process of reparatory justice.

‘People can see it – but can’t use it’: mystery of completed East-West Rail line that has no passenger trains

The East West Rail project linking Oxford to Milton Keynes was finished in 2024. There’s just one hitch: no services

The rumbling noise in the night, still enough to waken the unhabituated, is what really goads some people living in Winslow, Buckinghamshire. Freight trains running through the new station since late 2024 prove this stretch of railway is operational. But the long-promised passenger services have yet to appear – and there is no sign of any arriving soon.

Welcome to East West Rail, open or not. For well over a decade, ministers have talked up a new railway linking Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes to accelerate the drive for housing, jobs and growth – an arc of tech industry hailed as the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley.

‘The air resounds with a Babel’s Tower of languages’: why I wrote a novel based in Victoria Square, Athens

It once housed the fanciest shops and restaurants in Greece’s capital city – then it crashed. Now the area is reborn as a vibrant, multicultural neighbourhood

After my father’s will banned me and my siblings from his funeral, I wrote a novel about some brothers and sisters stealing their dad in his coffin. The emotions were drawn from my painful experiences, but I invented the characters and the tragi-comic narrative in Stealing Dad. Despite growing up in England, I’ve lived in and written about Athens for 25 years, and it came naturally to create several Greek characters. Alekos is a wild sculptor who dies in London, and his daughter Iris (one of seven dispersed half-siblings) lives off Victoria Square – one of Athens’ most fascinating corners.

In the 1960s, Plateia Viktorias was a fashionable neighbourhood with the fanciest restaurants, shops and theatres. Townhouses from the interwar period were being demolished and Athenians were occupying the new six-storey apartment blocks so fast that construction dust and the constant drilling were the main problem. Today, through wrought-iron and glass doors, elegant, marble-lined halls reveal concierges’ desks and traces of a vanished bourgeois life.