Oran Knowlson, who could suffer hundreds of seizures a day, had neurostimulator fitted at Great Ormond Street
A UK teenager with severe epilepsy has become the first person in the world to be fitted with a brain implant aimed at bringing seizures under control.
Oran Knowlson’s neurostimulator sits under the skull and sends electrical signals deep into the brain, reducing his daytime seizures by 80%.
Two-thirds of applications to build renewable energy projects in Great Britain have failed to get through the planning stage over the past five years, hampering efforts to shift towards clean electricity generation.
A study of Britain’s “renewables pipeline” found that 63% of mooted projects were either abandoned, refused planning permission, an application was withdrawn or ultimately expired between 2018 and 2023. The remainder of the applications were either approved or revised, according to the research by the consultancy Cornwall Insight.
Sure, there have been queer women in historical fiction before, but these relationships usually end up in death or disaster. Could the Netflix Regency romp change this?
Season three of Bridgerton has been a solid eight hours of swoon-worthy love confessions, glimmering gowns and orchestral Taylor Swift. The ultimate thrill, however, might be found in a 50-second scene affixed to the very end of the finale: a scene with no kisses, no confessions and no sex. How is this possible? Lesbianism, that’s how!
Just before the end of the final episode, the show packs in one more twist through the introduction of a new character – absent from the books by Julia Quinn on which the series is based, and loaded with queer implications. The blushing reaction between the two female characters during their first meeting tells all: Bridgerton will feature a lesbian couple in a coming season.
Biden has a tough task ahead in this week’s debate – but, thanks in part to rightwing attacks, the bar he faces is low
If Joe Biden is to win November’s election, he must win this week’s televised debate. He must come off as energetic and competent. He must make the case, persuasively, that Donald Trump is a danger to the nation and the world. And, perhaps most of all, he must seem mentally sharp.
That’s a lot to do in under 90 minutes, especially while sharing the stage with someone as unpredictable as Trump, whose dominant personality and in-your-face tactics can put him at an advantage.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
The 70-year-old former Trump White House strategist has hosted a number of future GOP leaders and ‘folds in absolutely anyone willing to listen’
It is not your typical man cave. Christian iconography. A bust of Julius Caesar. A painting of John Paul Jones, the revolutionary war naval officer. A book, The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes, sitting on a crowded desk. A sign resting on the mantelpiece declares: “There are no conspiracies, but there are no coincidences.”
Welcome to the War Room, where the classical, contemporary and conspiratorial nourish Steve Bannon’s grand vision of himself as a historical figure. Each day he holds court in this basement on Capitol Hill to plot not only Donald Trump’s return to power but the next American revolution. Screens, microphones and other podcasting paraphernalia sit above piles of books and newspapers, namely the Financial Times and New York Times.
Over the next few weeks, the Guardian will profile figures playing a key role in boosting the ex-president’s attempt to regain the presidency
It takes a village to run a presidential campaign, and in the case of Donald Trump’s bid for reelection, that village is led by a group of shadowy, wealthy and well-connected figures working to shape the infrastructure of the election and his policies and messaging.
Rather than providing a check on the far right, the party opened the door to Faragism – and made his fantasies come true
Samuel Earle is the author of Tory Nation: How One Party Took Over
It’s easy to mock Nigel Farage: a cartoonish nationalist who’s made more comebacks than any pop star, who’s failed to win a seat in Westminster on seven different occasions, and whose urgent mission to save Britain from disaster doesn’t stop him selling bottles of “Farage gin” on the side (£40). Farage is aware of this mockery, too – and you sense a desire for revenge is partly what motivates him. As he infamously told the European parliament after the 2016 referendum, “When I came here 17 years ago … you all laughed at me – well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?”
Even influential Conservatives – who desperately consume whatever Farage is selling, praying his followers will be included in the deal – heap insults on him. Michael Gove recently likened Farage to a clown or showman – a source of “amusement and diversion” – and called Reform UK “a giant ego trip”. David Cameron says that Farage is “trying to destroy the Conservative party” and offers only “inflammatory language and hopeless policy”, having previously called his supporters “fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists”. Farage’s friendly comments about Putin on Friday – that Nato and the EU “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – has provided fresh opportunities for them to take the moral high ground. But Conservatives never square this condescension with their capitulation to his demands. Why, despite being in power for 14 years with ever bigger majorities, have they let Farage make such a strong claim to being the most influential politician of the period? Looking back on the soap opera of British politics since 2010, it is Conservative prime ministers who make cameo appearances, and Farage who is the arch protagonist, shaping events, sealing fates, hogging the media’s attention.
How many young people will rush to the polling stations on 4 July? A good number have registered, but it remains to be seen ...
Are elections like buses? For dual French-British citizens like me, we’ve had the European ones and now, in addition to the UK, the snap French legislative elections mean voting twice more. As a new citizen, trips to the Leeds Novotel to queue up with north-east England’s French people are a thrill for me, but my sons are away all summer and less excited by the faff involved in doing some democracy.
It’s a bad time of year to get young people voting. I’m actually quite impressed that 60% of 18- and 19-year-olds are registered to vote, but I wonder how many will? The youth are busy, guys: recovering from exams and post-exam festivities, then getting the hell away from home, holidaying or working. I wondered briefly whether this influenced the election date decision in the UK, then two seconds contemplating the campaign to date reminded me that the Tories are incapable of that kind of strategic thinking.
Director Niels Arden Oplev has written movingly of his intimate knowledge of the mental illness, but this story is soaked in treacly good taste
Danish film-maker Niels Arden Oplev, director of the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with Noomi Rapace, has written movingly about the true story behind his very personal new film. It is inspired by his sister who has schizophrenia, perhaps triggered by heartbreak she experienced in her personal life as a teenager working in her gap year in France, but who in middle age went on a cathartic healing journey back to that country with her sister and brother-in-law.
Sofie Gråbøl(star of the Scandi noir TV hit The Killing) plays a fictional version: Inger has schizophrenia and lives in residential care; she is about to take a bus trip to France with her caring, if nervous, sister Ellen (Lene Maria Christensen) and Ellen’s bullish, good-natured husband Vagn (Anders W Berthelsen). It is a tense experience, because Inger still talks frankly about the invisible creature called “Goldensun” who speaks to her and encourages her to self-harm, and also because she also has a habit of making loud, sexually inappropriate comments, to the uptight and heartless disapproval of a mean guy on the bus who would prefer not to be anywhere near this person. But this man’s sweet 12-year-old son, inevitably more innocently compassionate, makes friends with Inger.
He grew to the size of a terrier, always looked like he was winking and conducted himself entirely on his own terms. He showed just how important it can be to not give a toss
The farmer was going to drown the kitten because he had an abscess in one eye and was feral, biting everything. But some vets were there to help with lambing, and the farmer agreed Nelson could be taken in and rehomed.
It was 2005; I was 16 and my sister, five years older than me, was on a work placement at a vet surgery in Preston as part of her university training. Nelson’s eye was removed, as were his testicles, and it was decided he would be taken in by my family, in nearby Chorley.
A pleasingly retro salad with a tangy salad cream that you’ll possibly want to make on repeat … on repeat
I was fortunate enough to be one of the thousands of children taught and cared for by Mrs Megan Williams at Batford nursery school in the late 1970s. I like to think I can remember her voice; I can certainly picture the way her eyes (behind large glasses) and the whole of her long body moved when she told stories, all of us sitting on a square of carpet in the corner of the room. I also remember how she would encourage us to say words we liked several times, enjoying the feel of every letter, tadpole-tadpole-tadpole, raspberry-raspberry-raspberry, mud-mud-mud. A few years later, another teacher introduced me to the idea that any word, even the most tedious, said enough times, becomes incredibly funny. Then, even more years later, when I was at drama school and overthinking every word and phrase, these two bits of advice met and became one: top-full of direst cruelty … top-full of direst cruelty …top-full of direst cruelty.
These days, I am more interested in being Eliza Acton than Lady Macbeth, therefore salad cream … salad cream … salad cream; beautiful, funny, and delicious, both slapped from a bottle and homemade. Although more correctly, Eliza calls it “English sauce for salad” in Modern Cookery for Private Families, which was first published in 1845. Sauce for salad of course requires salad, and what better than a salad from my 1970s childhood: butterhead lettuce, radish and egg?
Israel’s prime minister has said the most intense phase of the assault against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end, freeing up forces to move to the Lebanese border, where escalating exchanges of fire with the militant group Hezbollah have increased fears of a wider war.
In his first public interview with a Hebrew-language network outlet during more than eight months of conflict, Benjamin Netanyahu also walked back on his commitment to a US-backed ceasefire proposal with Hamas, instead suggesting a far more limited offer.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side dominate in opening group game
Uruguay chasing record 16th Copa América title
Maximiliano Araújo scored when he sent a left-footed shot into the top far corner in the 16th minute, Darwin Núñez and Matías Viña added late goals and Uruguay beat Panama 3-1 on Sunday night in its Copa América opener.
Seeking a record 16th Copa América title, Uruguay dominated with 20 shots, including seven on target. Michael Amir Murillo scored late into stoppage time for Panama.
Araújo scored the first goal after he received a pass from Viña from just outside the penalty area, took a touch and turned. He tapped the ball twice and curled the ball past goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera’s outstretched left arm for his second goal in nine international appearances.
Núñez made it 2-0 in the 85th minute after Panama turned the ball over the in the middle of the pitch. Nicolás de la Cruz played a long cross to Araújo, whose header deflected off the shoulder of Murillo and fell to Núñez. He volleyed in from 12 yards out for his 12th goal in 24 appearances, his ninth in his last six matches.
Viña boosted the margin to 3-0 with a header from de la Cruz’s free kick in the first minute of stoppage time, out-leaping defender Abdiel Ayarza for his first international goal.
Murrillo spun a defender to beat goalkeeper Sergio Rochet in the fourth minute of stoppage time for his ninth international goal.
Uruguay has undergone a rebuilding process under coach Marcelo Bielsa after the retirement of Edinson Cavani and Diego Godín, and a young roster has shown an ability to contend at the top level. Uruguay beat Lionel Messi and Argentina and a wayward Brazil in World Cup qualifiers, then routed Mexico 4-0 in a friendly early in June.
Luis Suárez, the 37-year-old striker who is Uruguay’s career leading scorer and was the player of the tournament in 2011, did not play.
A Brazilian special forces unit marks the second anniversary of the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips with what they hope will be a famous offensive against the criminals obliterating the greatest tropical rainforest on Earth
As world leaders gathered in France to remember the 80thanniversary of the Normandy invasion, a Brazilian band of brothers assembled deep in the jungle to stage a fight of their own on the Amazon’s river beaches, landing grounds and creeks.
“Tomorrow’s our D-day,” declared the group’s commander, Felipe Finger, as his airborne special forces unit prepared to mark the second anniversary of the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips with what they hoped would be a famous offensive against the criminals obliterating the greatest tropical rainforest on Earth.
In London, studio size has halved since 2020, and across the UK artists are campaigning for affordable space. What happens when a country’s creative resources all suddenly disappear?
‘There used to be loads of little galleries near this studio, artist-run spaces and a few smaller commercial galleries. Pretty much all of them have gone now, priced out by spiralling rents,” says painter Cathy Lomax.
We are chatting over tea in a large, light-filled space near the Trelawney estate, Hackney, which has served as her creative base for the past 15 years. Art materials, magazines and mirrors fill every corner. The walls are lined with work from her current project, a surreal homage to late-period Elizabeth Taylor.
Christian Pulisic scored in the third minute and assisted on Folarin Balogun’s goal in the 44th as the USMNT cruised past Bolivia 2-0 in their Copa América opener on Sunday night.
Against an overmatched, youthful Bolivia side, the US were comfortable winners. Ten of Bolivia’s starters entered the opening game of the tournament with 10 caps or fewer, and an experienced US side wasted no time in showing the gulf in quality.
Germany’s bar-holders will miss the tartan army of supporters, few will miss Steve Clarke’s side’s football
Some day, perhaps, the run will end. Some day Scotland will make it out of the group at a major tournament. But not yet, not this year. They earned a single point, failed to have a shot on target in three of the six halves of football they played in Germany, and scored just twice, one of them a freakish own goal that was gifted to them. Brewers and bar-holders will miss their fans, but few will miss their football.
Scottish sorrow comes in catalogues. Some of their previous 11 group-stage exits have been the result of just not being that good. Some have been the result of underperformance on the biggest stage. And some, the sweetest, have carried the air of gallant failure. The most celebrated – 1978, Archie Gemmill, Ally MacLeod, the Dutch and all that – was a large helping of the third of those on a bed of the second.
Striker has misfired in the group stages before but has backed his teammates to find their form at Euro 2024
For Harry Kane, it has always been about peaking at the right time in tournaments – in other words, the knockout rounds. The England captain has suggested previously that he might have gone too soon at the 2018 World Cup, lighting up the group stage with five goals and then, in his own words, not having “the best performances in the quarters and semis”.
As he finds himself at the centre of the storm that threatens to engulf England at Euro 2024, cast as the face of the desperately disappointing 1-1 draw against Denmark, the first thing to say is that Kane has been here before. The next is to remember how he responded.
Hungary striker Barnabas Varga broke several facial bones and suffered a concussion during his country’s 1-0 victory over Scotland. The Ferencvaros forward required lengthy treatment on the pitch after colliding with Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn in the second half of their Euro 2024 match in Stuttgart on Sunday evening.
Hungary players had quickly signalled that the 29-year-old was in trouble and, after six minutes of treatment, Varga was carried off the field on a stretcher while sheets were held up to shield him from view.
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