Race by race commentary on the Boxing Day fixture
Formby Hurdle (Aintree 1.05pm)
Newsflash: Low sun means that the officials are omitting some hurdles. Three have been taken out so there will be just five obstacles to jump. This is never very satisfactory.
Ans they’re off … Starmount jumps the first in the lead with hot favourite Mydaddypaddy in second … and now they have nearly a mile to run before they jump another flight annoyingly … Mydaddypaddy jumped the second well … and again the third … he looks a class act … so now just one hurdle to jump … and now a very long run home … Starmount leads with Mydaddypaddy challenging the new leader Idaho Sun … he comes to take it up but can’t get past Idaho Sun and Mydaddypaddy is beaten in a big shock at Aintree!
Formby Hurdle (Aintree 1.05pm) betting
Mydaddypaddy – 4/7
Idaho Sun – 7/2
Storming George – 10/1
Starmount – 12/1
Glance At Midnight – 25/1
The Last Cloud – 40/1
Diamond Hunter – NR
Wahraan - NR
Full betting here via Oddschecker
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© Photograph: John Walton/PA
© Photograph: John Walton/PA
© Photograph: John Walton/PA
Yusuf Tuggar says strikes against group accused by Donald Trump of attacking Christian communities will be an ‘ongoing process’
Nigerians across Sokoto state told of their shock at Christmas Day strikes by the United States.
Agence France-Presse spoke to people around Jabo town, who said that their area was sometimes a target of armed “bandit” gangs and jihadists, but was not a stronghold for the groups.
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© Photograph: US Department of War
© Photograph: US Department of War
© Photograph: US Department of War
⚽ Updates from the afternoon Boxing Day football action
⚽ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Barry
There will have been no shortage of glasses raised in Nottingham, Scotland and beyond yesterday in memory of John Robertson, following news of his death at the age of 72. The winger was a hugely important member of Brian Clough’s great Forest team that rose from the second tier of English football to win multiple major honours, most famously back-to-back European Cups.
Described by Clough as “the Picasso of our game”, Robertson played 28 times for Scotland and scored the winning goal in a Home Championship victory over England at Wembley in May 1981. Sachin Nakrani reports …
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© Photograph: David Davies/PA
© Photograph: David Davies/PA
© Photograph: David Davies/PA
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
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© Composite: Shutterstock
© Composite: Shutterstock
© Composite: Shutterstock
President’s professed satisfaction with his cabinet may be a reflection of how difficult it would be to get a replacement confirmed
For more than a decade he built his brand on two words: “You’re fired!” And in his first term in the White House, Donald Trump did not hesitate to show his staff the door, often via an abrasive tweet.
But since resuming the US presidency in January, Trump, the former host of the reality TV show The Apprentice, appears to have become an uncharacteristically bashful boss, more disposed to hiring than firing.
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© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Texas governor among those to call for expanded access to ibogaine, said to help with treating veterans with PTSD
For half a century, psychedelics largely belonged to the cultural left: anti-war, anti-capitalist, suspicious of the church and state. Now, one of the most politically consequential psychedelic drugs in the US – ibogaine – is being championed by evangelical Christians, Republican governors, military veterans, and big tech billionaires.
Many of them see ibogaine, an intense psychedelic derived from a central African rootbark, as a divine technology. In fact, some pointedly do not refer to it as a psychedelic, given the apparent baggage of the term in some circles.
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© Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
© Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
© Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
An old fashioned with a batty backstory
Legend has it that in 1920 Bhupinder Singh, the maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a grand party the night before the match at which he served his guests Patiala pegs, famously generous four-finger whisky pours traditionally measured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players overindulged, leaving them very hungover and, inevitably, defeated the next day, and the legend of the Patiala peg was born. This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned is inspired by Singh’s drink. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we’ve adapted the recipe to make it more suitable for a domestic environment.
James Stevenson, beverage director, Ambassadors Clubhouse, London W1
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© Photograph: Rob Lawson/The Guardian. Drink styling: Seb Davis.
© Photograph: Rob Lawson/The Guardian. Drink styling: Seb Davis.
© Photograph: Rob Lawson/The Guardian. Drink styling: Seb Davis.
Armed groups have moved in to the space left by the Farc after the civil war, cutting down rainforest to control land and build thousands of kilometres of smuggling routes
High above the Colombian Amazon, Rodrigo Botero peers out of a small aircraft as the rainforest canopy unfolds below – an endless sea of green interrupted by stark, widening patches of brown. As director of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS), he has spent years mapping the transformation of this fragile landscape from the air.
His team has logged more than 150 overflights, covering 30,000 miles (50,000km) to track deforestation advancing along the roads, illicit crops and the shifting frontiers of human settlement. “We now have the highest road density in the entire Amazon,” says Botero.
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© Illustration: Steve Ball/Guardian Pictures
© Illustration: Steve Ball/Guardian Pictures
© Illustration: Steve Ball/Guardian Pictures
I had gone out with friends to mark the end of university, and one by one they disappeared. With the music throbbing, I learned I could be comfortable in my own company
Between the ages of 16 and 21, the big night out wasn’t just a hobby, it was a calling. Getting together with friends, getting drunk, being blasted by music, meeting new friends in the smoking area, getting more drunk, somehow making it home eight hours later – these were things I excelled at, the precious moments where I could try to lose myself and avoid the anxiety that inevitably came with daybreak.
The escapism wasn’t just selfish fun. It felt like a necessary avoidance of reality, which for me consisted of having a mother with a terminal illness who would die when I was 19, leaving me at university to cope with my grief. Going out, dancing and chatting rubbish to friends was one way to survive.
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© Illustration: Mark Long/The Guardian
© Illustration: Mark Long/The Guardian
© Illustration: Mark Long/The Guardian
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