Today’s rumours might even get home one day
This year, as with last year, Aston Villa are eyeing the January market to bolster their forward line. For Marcus Rashford in 2025, read Tammy Abraham in 2026. Roma own his registration, though he is now on loan at Besiktas. A fan favourite when on loan from Chelsea in Villa’s Championship days, such a move would be something of a homecoming. Another Villa target is Dani Ceballos, the midfielder once of Arsenal, and a useful Real Madrid squad player for years now.
To compound Crystal Palace’s FA Cup misery, and the unsettling tidings on Oliver Glasner’s future, there’s the rumour that Jean-Philippe Mateta is a target for Juventus.
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© Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Neal Simpson/Apl/Sportsphoto
© Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Neal Simpson/Apl/Sportsphoto
© Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Neal Simpson/Apl/Sportsphoto
Hamnet and H Is for Hawk fuse themes of loss, birds and elemental female emotion. But whose fault is it if you remain dry-eyed?
‘Is it porn or is it art?” A familiar, even dated question where nudity is involved, and (forgive thumbnail) pretty well-resolved– which is to say: we let the tastemakers decide, and it tips the scale towards “art” if one or both protagonists are not that good-looking.
“Is it grief-porn or is it grief-art?” is a more vexed question. Grief-porn, in relation to cinema, would suggest that the film in question is emotionally manipulative, formulaic; grief-art would suggest the film unleashes feelings both universal and true.
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© Photograph: Agata Grzybowska/© 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
© Photograph: Agata Grzybowska/© 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
© Photograph: Agata Grzybowska/© 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
(Rough Trade)
The duo’s 13th album finds Jason Williamson as baffled and infuriated as ever at the state of the world, with help from some unexpected collaborators
Over the course of a dozen albums, Jason Williamson (words) and Andrew Fearn (music) have journeyed from DIY to the album chart Top 5 by providing a gut-punchingly bleak and amusingly absurdist commentary on the financial crash, austerity, Brexit and the rise of the far right. On their 13th LP, Williamson again convinces in the role of a potty-mouthed bystander, baffled and infuriated by what goes on around him, whether empty lives in the digital age (“Weights and wanking / Hard bodies and phone lights / That’s all we got”), Trump’s US (“Maga’s off their tits”) or minor daily irritants: “Lazy dog walkers on short walks, mate, wanker!”
However, developments here should gently broaden their appeal. Williamson displays a welcome new vulnerability on the harrowing Gina Was, about a childhood incident. Meanwhile, Fearn is subtly developing his production, venturing beyond electro-punk to use classical strings on Double Diamond and a broader range of collaborators. The combination of Willliamson, Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie’s furious rap and Big Special’s David Bowie-ish crooning on The Good Life makes for one of the most hauntingly catchy things they’ve done.
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© Photograph: Nick Waplington
© Photograph: Nick Waplington
© Photograph: Nick Waplington
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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© Photograph: îˆçËèÉéq/AP
© Photograph: îˆçËèÉéq/AP
© Photograph: îˆçËèÉéq/AP
Tournament to be played every four years from 2028
Federation denies statutes breached in making decision
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has been accused of pushing through its controversial decision to stage the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) every four years without properly consulting member federations.
Several presidents of African football federations have told the Guardian they were not informed of the decision until it was surprisingly announced by the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, on 20 December, prompting claims that the confederation breached its statutes by failing to seek approval at a general assembly.
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© Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP
© Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP
© Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP
India’s Gukesh Dommaraju takes on Candidates qualifiers and stars who missed out, plus a talent for the 2030s
The annual “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands is unusually interesting this year. Its 14-player field matches the reigning world champion, India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, against a range of rivals who include four of the eight Candidates who will meet in March to decide his 2026 challenger, another three grandmasters from the world top 10, the controversial US star Hans Niemann, plus a 14-year-old Turk who is breaking age records.
Gukesh’s unimpressive recent results mean that the world Nos 5 and 8, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, will aim to finish ahead of him. Germany’s world No 4, Vincent Keymer, had a good 2025, while the home nation’s world No 6, Anish Giri, often performs well in this event.
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© Photograph: Lucian Alecu/Alamy
© Photograph: Lucian Alecu/Alamy
© Photograph: Lucian Alecu/Alamy
Women allege Spanish singer subjected them ‘to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in atmosphere of control’
The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias has broken his silence over allegations that he sexually abused two women who worked in his Caribbean mansions, saying he has never “abused, coerced or disrespected any woman”.
The 82-year-old entertainer, whose career spans six decades, had been accused by two female former employees who allege they had been sexually assaulted and subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”.
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© Photograph: Carlos Giusti/AP
© Photograph: Carlos Giusti/AP
© Photograph: Carlos Giusti/AP
Despite restrictions announced this week, Guardian reporters find standalone app continues to allow posting of nonconsensual content
X has continued to allow users to post highly sexualised videos of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool Grok, despite the company’s claim to have cracked down on misuse.
The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account.
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© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images
© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images
© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images
Have you been following the big stories in football, rugby, snooker, tennis, cricket, motor racing, cycling and futsal?
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© Composite: AFP, Getty, EPA
© Composite: AFP, Getty, EPA
© Composite: AFP, Getty, EPA
The Gardanas, a pair of mucus-coloured hemp shoes, are a somewhat paradoxical current must-have. But their appeal goes deeper than the topsoil
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There is every chance that 2026 will be the year you see your first pair of Gardana gardening clogs in the wild. In fact, if you spend much time on TikTok, or live in Brooklyn, you’ve probably already been seeing them for months, if not years. I saw my first pair a few weeks ago. I watched a dad dropping his kids off at school in head-to-toe Carhartt, a pair of Gardanas peeping out from below his trousers like a shy frog.
Pliable, but with a sturdy sole, they go for as little as £25. The work of French “environmental poet” André Ravachol, who founded the Plasticana brand behind the clogs in 1998, they’re made from 100% recycled PVC and hemp, which gives them their earthy-caramel or, as Vogue put it, “bird-pooey” hue. They have since been called “maybe the coolest shoes in London” by one TikToker, as he Lime-biked his way through the capital to try to nab a pair.
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© Composite: Penske Media/Getty Images/Plasticana/Straw London
© Composite: Penske Media/Getty Images/Plasticana/Straw London
© Composite: Penske Media/Getty Images/Plasticana/Straw London
In this week’s newsletter: US earnings would be 12% higher without the climate crisis, a study reveals – and the hotter the world gets, the greater the economic losses
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Donald Trump has long railed against emissions-cutting policy as an expensive “hoax” and “scam”. But the climate crisis itself comes with a major price tag for Americans, a new study shows.
Previous research has found that global heating has driven up utility costs, home insurance premiums and healthcare bills. But according to the new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, it has also slashed US incomes by more than a tenth since 2000 – a severe national economic jolt.
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
The crisis whisperer: how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering age
Africa’s great elephant divide: countries struggle with too many elephants – or too few
Average person will be 40% poorer if world warms by 4C, new research shows
Economic damage from climate change six times worse than thought – report
Tackling climate crisis will increase economic growth, OECD research finds
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© Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
© Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
© Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
Five organisations whose work fosters community, tolerance and empathy will share proceeds of readers’ generosity
The Guardian has raised more than £1m in its Hope appeal to support grassroots charities whose work offers a positive antidote to social division, racism and hatred.
The appeal, which closed on Thursday, had five partner charities that will share the donations: Citizens UK, the Linking Network, Locality, Hope Unlimited Charitable Trust and Who Is Your Neighbour?
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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Our readers bask in the memory of great beach discoveries, from Latvia to Sicily
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Forty miles east of Palermo, the magnificent Sicilian resort town of Cefalù juts out beneath dramatic cliffs. The town has a perfect half-moon beach of golden sands melding into the gorgeous clear turquoise sea. Medieval lanes of stones in a diamond pattern lead up to a lively square offering great Italian food. It’s fronted by a beautiful Norman cathedral with twin towers and Byzantine mosaics inside.
David Innes-Wilkin
© Photograph: Federico Scotto/Getty Images
© Photograph: Federico Scotto/Getty Images
© Photograph: Federico Scotto/Getty Images
From classmates to co-parents, the changing dynamics of a female friendship are astutely observed in a novel that explores the boundaries between love, lust and companionship
Australian author Madeleine Gray’s award-winning debut novel Green Dot was a smart, funny tale of a doomed office affair. Her new novel, Chosen Family, is a smart, funny tale of a complicated, life-changing relationship between two women.
Nell and Eve meet aged 12 at a girls’ school in Sydney. Gray’s narrative moves smoothly back and forth from the 00s to the present day; as in David Nicholls’s One Day, we learn about our protagonists by meeting them at different moments in their lives, from the pressures of high school to the alcohol-soaked freedoms of university to the frustrations and joys of early parenthood.
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© Photograph: Dmytro Betsenko/Getty Images
© Photograph: Dmytro Betsenko/Getty Images
© Photograph: Dmytro Betsenko/Getty Images
Sophie Turner is excellent as an office worker caught up in an armed heist, while Bella Hadid leads Ryan Murphy’s flashy and deeply unserious drama about an injection that comes with the promise: ‘one shot will make you hot’
Zara (Sophie Turner) is half-heartedly slogging away in a mid-ranking job at a pensions company. But her life is dramatically upended when a brutal and terrifyingly efficient gang of robbers appear in her workplace to carry out a £4bn heist. This thriller gives up its secrets gradually: what originally seems to be a taut crime caper soon twists and turns in unsettling and credulity-stretching ways. It’s a smart attempt to reimagine the perfect financial crime for the digital age and Turner’s lead performance is deceptively subtle, with her apparent office-drone apathy eventually barely concealing a surprising level of slick calculation. Archie Madekwe is also excellent as her sidekick Luke.
Prime Video, from Wednesday 21 January
© Photograph: Ludovic Robert/Prime Video
© Photograph: Ludovic Robert/Prime Video
© Photograph: Ludovic Robert/Prime Video
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