© Photo illustration by The New York Times; source photographs by Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images
© Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
Kendrick Lamar has sampled my track. I’d love to ask him if he knows my story
Growing up in North Miami Beach in the 1980s was a lot of fun. We might not have had TikTok, but we weren’t bored: we would ride our bikes around and blast music from our boomboxes all weekend. In my mid-teens, I did a work placement at a record store. I loved it, and became something of an expert in R&B and rap, listening to Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC and 2 Live Crew on repeat.
One day in 1984, when I was 17, a record producer named Tony Butler – better known as “Pretty Tony” – came into the store. He heard me speak and asked me whether I wanted to make some music. I thought, “Why not?!”
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© Photograph: Zack Wittman/The Guardian
© Photograph: Zack Wittman/The Guardian
© Photograph: Zack Wittman/The Guardian
After drummer Neil Peart died in 2020, many thought the Canadian prog legends would never reform. As they book a mammoth global tour, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson explain how their lifelong bond drew them back together
The two men on the sofa, Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, have known each other for 60 years now. “When we first met in junior high school, we sat beside each other, and we laughed,” says Lee, the elder by a month. “He’s the funniest guy I’ve ever known, and I make him laugh, too.” Lifeson, who has been gazing at his friend happily, nods vigorously. “Yeah!” The two of them gently tease each other, and speak of each other with such happy admiration, that I feel suffused with warmth from the off. “Everybody wants to have a bestie like this guy!” Lee says at one point, beaming.
It’s only because they like each other so much that they’re in this posh London hotel suite. Lifeson came over to Europe for some health checks, and Lee decided to come with him. Once they were here, they decided they may as well talk to some journalists about Rush’s upcoming R50 reunion tour, and the decision to add 24 European and South American shows to the 58 arena dates they’d already announced for North America (they’ll play the UK in March 2027). The interviews were meant to be separate, but they decided it would be more enjoyable to speak together. Honestly, if you ever want to see a model for male friendship, spend time with Rush and feel cleansed.
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© Photograph: Richard Sibbald
© Photograph: Richard Sibbald
© Photograph: Richard Sibbald
With poor Sam Claflin virtually banished from screen, it’s up to the Big Bang Theory star to keep this woefully formulaic show afloat – and it’s a losing battle
Buckle up, buttercups! Three hours of overstuffed nonsense split into four 45-minute bursts is about to come atcha, and fast.
Vanished stars Kaley Cuoco, who found fame in The Big Bang Theory from 2007-2019, then starred in The Flight Attendant a few years back. Cuoco played an ordinary, if functionally alcoholic, stewardess who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and enmeshed in an ever-deepening mystery, then mortal peril. She found unexpected reserves of courage and resourcefulness and managed to stay half a step ahead of the bad guys until it was time for vanquishings and comeuppances all round.
Vanished is on Prime Video now.
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© Photograph: Bruno Calvo
© Photograph: Bruno Calvo
© Photograph: Bruno Calvo
Back then, France punched above its weight when it came to tech. The EU needs it to rediscover its taste for the cutting edge
In the 1960s, France became the third country, after the US and Soviet Union, to independently place a satellite (Astérix) into orbit, and the only country to send an animal into space and – crucially, for Félicette the catstronaut – bring it back alive. A decade later, the Franco-British Concorde flicked passengers across the Atlantic in three and a half hours and the TGV began to propel them through the countryside first at 250km/h (155mph), and then 320km/h. Then, in the late 1980s, the French space agency designed a crewed spaceplane, Hermès, that corrected for the Nasa space shuttle’s vulnerability by being integrated into its launch vehicle rather than perched atop it.
A concerted buildout of nuclear power left France with one of the least carbon-intensive economies in the world. And then, of course, there was the Minitel. More than a decade before anyone was typing “www” into their web browsers, French users were able to buy train tickets, check film showings, do their banking, play games, find recipes, read their horoscopes, or even log into, yes, erotic chats – la messagerie rose, as it was known.
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© Photograph: Philippe Le Tellier/Getty Images
© Photograph: Philippe Le Tellier/Getty Images
© Photograph: Philippe Le Tellier/Getty Images
Hannah Spencer elected as party’s first MP in northern England, as Labour sees a 25.3% drop in vote compared to 2024
The Green party has pulled off a landmark victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection in a significant blow to Keir Starmer.
Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green party councillor, was elected as the party’s first MP in northern England after overturning Labour’s 13,000-vote majority.
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© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
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