
The Gallagher brothers’ comeback concerts are given the full fan-worship treatment, but it’s impossible to begrudge the euphoria they have created
“Hello … hello … It’s good to be back.” With these words – and the unfortunate possibility of a royalty payment to a certain disgraced ex-pop star – this highly enjoyable fan-worship documentary revives the memory of last year’s staggering and already mythic Oasis reunion tour. It also recollects how effortlessly funny the Gallagher brothers are, like a great comic double act. There’s a big laugh in the tense scene in the rehearsal room, when Liam finally shows up after Noel and everyone else had been there for hours – and the very first thing that comes out of his mouth is a fierce and magnificently sullen objection to the baffles on the drum kit: “They’re giving me the hump.”
Yet to the surprise of many who did not believe, and these biblical echoes are strangely appropriate, Liam and Noel did not fall out; the resulting stadium tour put a fresh coat of paint on the word “phenomenon”. Middle-aged and elderly people together with young people sporting bucket hats, some accompanied by their pets in bucket hats, sang their hearts out as if it was the 90s again and Manchester City had just won the World Cup 10-0 (although this film was evidently completed before Wonderwall’s moment at this year’s World Cup).
Continue reading...In this bizarre new gameshow, you will encounter John Bercow doing topless karaoke while tossing glitter at pensioners and Joey Essex pounding on the walls of a shipping container. Why? Who knows!
What is The Box? It is easier, perhaps, to list the things The Box is not, if only to give ourselves something to cling to when the more recognisable trappings start to wobble, the floor gives way and we find ourselves in a tent with Joey Essex, watching in silence as a topless John Bercow hurls glitter at an audience of braying pensioners.
So. Some things The Box is not: a sitcom; a medical drama; a property show presented by sockless men with teeth that follow you around the room; a thing about badgers. Beyond this, however, we are on our own. The opening titles do little to assist. “10 BOXES” booms a caption as the camera swoops over a collection of giant yellow containers strapped to the back of a flatbed lorry. “10 CONTESTANTS” it continues, as a montage of coming attractions reveals footage of Graeme Souness squinting at an egg and a member of JLS running towards some trees. And, finally, a distinctly disobliging caption that is nevertheless pivotal to the wilfully befuddling modus operandi of this six-part series: “NO HELP”. Bloody hell. Or rather, “bløødy hell”, because The Box is a Norwegian format so something may have been lost in translation. Anyway, shh, because it’s episode one and here is Gary Lineker.
Continue reading...Social media, mental health problems, the pandemic and financial instability all contribute to the phenomenon
On Tess Lavanda’s YouTube channel there is one video with substantially more views than the rest: it is titled “I don’t have any friends” and has been watched more than half a million times since she posted it a month ago.
Over on Instagram she has posted dozens of reels with titles like “I turned 22 alone”, “Living alone in London” and “Feeling alone this summer is OK”, each garnering thousands of views and hundreds of comments, many from people feeling the same way.
Continue reading...The order of discovery related to Fifa’s failed plan to sell the World Cup will worry the American president, a situation that tends to end badly for the culprit
“Tell Mike it was just business. I always liked him.”
“He understands.”
Continue reading...We asked you what you most wanted to put to our Guardian columnist. You responded in droves, querying her ‘beef’ with Burnham, who she thinks is this generation’s Hugh Grant, and what she really thinks about Richard Osman ...
• ‘There is light at the end of this tunnel. But the tunnel is filled with sewage’: an exclusive extract from Marina Hyde’s new book
What are your bunker plans?
James, Portugal
Masses of things to read, incredible food and an unethical doctor with an insane war chest of interesting pills. The second that bunker door closes, the doors of perception are opening.
Will Restore gain more traction by the next election and genuinely split the rightwing vote?
Natasha, London
They won’t split it in some 50‑50 way, but they could peel off a bit more from Reform’s right flank. Nigel Farage is looking vulnerable. In the Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry, Robin Williams plays an actor who literally goes out of focus. Having once been sharp and clear, his nervous system is so shot that he becomes a physically blurred and imprecise distortion of himself. Metaphorically, something similar has happened to Farage in recent months.
Tapestry’s loan to UK is just another chapter in the love-hate relationship that has spanned the centuries since it was created
Five British prime ministers ago – and six French ones – when Emmanuel Macron first confirmed that France would return the Bayeux tapestry to Britain after 1,000 years, he told an audience at Sandhurst and Theresa May – the No 10 seat-warmer of the day – that when it came to France and Britain there were “two things that nothing can change, be it a vote or a political decision: our history and our geography”.
It was January 2018, 18 months after the UK had voted to leave the EU, and relations between the near neighbours were not good. The French political establishment had been shocked and angered by Brexit; personal relations were frazzled, and cross-Channel government contacts measurably dwindling. This was not a rupture that a piece of embroidered medieval linen, however perfectly it represented that tangled history, was going to solve on its own.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader maintains innocence in overseas funding controversy on last day of party conference
Nigel Farage has claimed that he “wasn’t even listening” during a meeting at the centre of a controversy about whether his party considered evading the law on accepting donations from overseas.
The Reform UK leader also claimed he knew donation law “better than anybody” during interviews as he sought to salvage the final day of his party conference from the fallout that has already cost him two of his closest aides.
Continue reading...Port authorities say access roads ‘free flowing’ again after large group forces road closures in both directions
Dozens of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas blocked the road at the port of Dover in Kent, forcing closures in both directions on Saturday morning.
Kent police said they were were in attendance and engaging with the protest, which the Port of Dover described as a “public order incident”. No arrests were made during the incident. Responsibility for the demonstration appears to have been claimed by an anti-immigration group with links to the far right.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic
Seven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association, a Guardian investigation shows.
A top Israeli military prosecutor announced last month that he would not pursue criminal proceedings for the April 2024 incident in which drones fired missiles at three clearly marked World Central Kitchen (WCK) cars soon after they had escorted a food aid delivery to Gaza. Three British humanitarian workers along with an Australian, a Palestinian, a Pole and a dual US-Canadian national were killed.
Continue reading...Sector has avoided issue because of stigma fears, expert warns ahead of closure of Nottingham attacks inquiry
Mental health organisations have “failed to acknowledge” the risk of violence from a minority of people with severe mental illnesses, the chief executive of Mind has said ahead of the closure of the inquiry into the Nottingham attacks.
Dr Sarah Hughes, who has led mental health charity Mind for four years and has worked in the sector for almost four decades, said charities had shied away from addressing the risk of violence due to the fact it had increased the stigma and harassment around people with mental health conditions.
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