Who is driving the populist insurgency? It’s not grumpy pensioners or vulnerable teenagers – it’s my generation
If in doubt, we used to talk about the weather. Or if not that, then why the trains were late again, or how sweet someone’s baby was: the kind of routine bland nothings you exchange with strangers on the street. But something about the way we speak in public is changing.
A few days ago I was in Aldi, making the usual small talk at the checkout. When the cashier said she was exhausted from working extra shifts to make some money for Christmas, the man behind me chipped in that it would be worse once “she takes all our money” (in case Rachel Reeves was wondering, her budget pitch-rolling is definitely cutting through). Routine enough, if he hadn’t gone on to add that she and the rest of the government needed taking out, and that there were plenty of ex-military men around who should know what to do, before continuing in more graphic fashion until the queue fell quiet and feet began shuffling. But the strangest thing was that he said it all quite calmly, as if political assassination was just another acceptable subject for casual conversation with strangers, such as football or how long the roadworks have gone on. It wasn’t until later that it clicked: this was a Facebook conversation come to life. He was saying out loud, and in public, the kind of thing people say casually all the time on the internet, apparently without recognising that in the real world it’s still shocking – at least for now.
Exclusive: British government adopted ‘least ambitious’ option months before RSF’s massacres in El Fasher
Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian.
Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the “least ambitious” option of four presented.
Chinese manufacturers are using the electric transition to seize market share, with the UK as their gateway
When Tesla wanted to catch the eye of British buyers, it put its cars and bright signage at a dealership in west London’s prominent Hogarth roundabout. Exposure to half a million drivers every day helped the US carmaker to become the dominant electric vehicle seller in the UK. Yet drivers passing by that site now see something different: twin Chinese brands Omoda and Jaecoo, both owned by the state-controlled manufacturer Chery.
Chinese cars are on a roll across Europe – they outsold Korean rivals in western Europe for the first time in September. That success is highly reliant on the UK. Of the half a million Chinese cars sold in western Europe between January and September, 30% were bought by Britons, according to Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst.
Duke of Sussex wears hat at baseball game against Toronto Blue Jays
Meghan cheers on US team after being born and raised in Los Angeles
The Duke of Sussex has apologised to Canada after he and his wife, Meghan, were photographed wearing Los Angeles Dodgers caps while attending a World Series game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Harry joked to Canadian broadcaster CTV that he wore the Dodgers merchandise “under duress” during game four of the series, saying it felt like “the polite thing to do” after being invited to the dugout by the team’s owner.
Hungary’s prime minister also seeking an exemption on US sanctions on Russian oil after Trump’s Kremlin frustrations
Viktor Orbán will visit the White House on Friday as Hungary’s far-right prime minister tries to broker another summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that Orbán’s advisers claim could help end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Orbán, who has proposed hosting the summit in Budapest, will also seek an exemption from US sanctions against Russian energy in what will be a major test of Trump’s tougher line on the Kremlin after he accused Putin of slow-rolling negotiations to end the conflict.
A pilot scheme where students eat nutritious breakfasts using donated surplus food builds on the ‘folkhem’ welfare model to boost health and sustainability
Students at Mariebergsskolan, a secondary school in Karlstad, Sweden, make their way to the canteen to grab a juice shot. This morning’s options include ginger and lemon, apple, golden milk, lemon and mint, or strawberry and orange. There’s also the choice of overnight oats with caramelised milk.
It’s just after 9am and the space is usually empty, but thanks to a project launched in 2018 by Vinnova, Sweden’s national innovation agency, students are starting their day with a boost from the energy bar. All the ingredients are donated by local supermarkets which are giving away surplus fruit and vegetables to minimise food waste.
It takes some chutzpah to make television like this. Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn is the only US citizen immune from an alien virus that makes everyone in the world supremely happy – and it’s a bleak, blackly comic watch
Even with the name of Vince Gilligan attached as creator, Pluribus – neatly styled Plur1bus on screen, to further evoke the unofficial motto of the US “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many, one”) – looks at first like a bit of light relief. The man who has spent the past two decades immersed in the harrowing world of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and El Camino, you reckon, has probably earned it.
Perhaps he is returning to his X Files roots with this tale of an alien virus that sweeps the globe, turning everyone happy and content, literally uniting minds (everyone’s thoughts, knowledge and memories are available to all – people no longer refer to themselves but as “this individual” when they speak) and causing them only to be kind to each other. Peace in our time! But what, kids, are we going to do about Carol (Rhea Seehorn)? She’s a middle-aged, bestselling writer of romantic fantasy novels, fantastically rich, adored by hundreds of thousands of fans – and as furiously miserable as only a misanthrope can be in such conditions. And Carol appears to be the only person in America immune to the virus. Hilarity must surely ensue!
‘Tonight or never,’ the men helping me said. ‘Meet us in the alley. Eight-thirty’
In 1965, I was 19 and living in East Berlin. West Berlin was glamorous. They had everything: shoes, cars, food. But we had almost nothing. When bananas were imported once or twice a year, the queues stretched further than I had ever seen.
My brother and I were desperate to get out. We’d hang around the checkpoints, hoping to befriend a West Berliner. Occasionally, they took pity and sent us packages. But escaping was rare – and expensive. Most who managed it had paid thousands of marks.
With a towering new album about female saints in 13 languages, she’s pop’s boldest star – and one of its most controversial. She revisits her spiritual breakthroughs, and explains why we need forgiveness instead of cancel culture
Rosalía Vila Tobella is just as bored as you are of pop music functioning as gossip column fodder, with lyrics full of hints of rivalries and betrayal. “I’m tiring of seeing people referencing celebrities, and celebrities referencing other celebrities,” she says. “I’m really much more excited about saints.”
The 33-year-old Catalan musician and producer’s monumental fourth album, Lux, draws on the lives of dozens of female saints, inspired by “feminine mysticism, spirituality” and how lives of murder, materialism and rebellion could light the way to canonisation. Rosalía reels them off. Her gothic, operatic new single Berghain borrows from the 12th-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen (cited like Madonna these days by experimental female musicians). “She had these visions that would pierce her brain. There’s also Vimala, who wrote poetry but was a prostitute, and she ended up becoming a saint because she was one of the first women who wrote in the Therīgāthā,” an ancient Buddhist poem collection written by nuns.
A colossal volcanic eruption in January 2022 ripped apart the underwater cables that connect Tonga to the world – and exposed the fragility of 21st-century life
US strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels, but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets posed a threat to America
US forces struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, defense secretary Pete Hegseth has said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration’s controversial campaign to at least 70.
The US began carrying out such strikes – which some experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers – in early September, taking aim at vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
What does the fall of El Fasher mean for the future of Sudan? Kaamil Ahmed reports
By the time Mohamed Douda arrived in El Fasher, a city in the Darfur region of Sudan, the battle between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was already under way.
Over the following months, as the RSF tightened their siege on the city, Douda, a community spokesperson and local activist, updated the Guardian journalist Kaamil Ahmed about the deteriorating situation.
James Marape skipped the meeting last year in protest but will attend Cop30 due to ‘encouraging signs’ on climate finance
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, has criticised Cop climate summits as “long on talk and short on action” but will attend the upcoming meeting of world leaders in Brazil, after pulling out last year in frustration with big emitters.
The leader of the Pacific nation of about 10 million people skipped the meeting in 2024 in “protest at the big nations” for failing to support to the victims of climate change. Marape will take part in the annual UN climate summit, which officially beings in Belém, Brazil on 10 November, due to “encouraging signs” emerging from developed nations on climate finance.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, but has moved to release more than half a dozen high-profile detainees in the last year
Two British drug convicts including death row prisoner Lindsay Sandiford were repatriated from Indonesia on Friday, as part of a deal to return them on humanitarian grounds.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, but has moved to release more than half a dozen high-profile detainees in the last year.
The A350-1000ULR is on the assembly line in France with the fuselage sections, wings and landing gear attached
Qantas has released the “first images” of its specially configured plane that will fly Australians non-stop from Sydney to London and New York from 2027.
The A350-1000ULR is on the Airbus assembly line in Toulouse, France, with its fuselage sections, wings and landing gear now attached, the airline said on Friday.
The soldier is the first to be jailed for such a crime after being found guilty of shooting dead a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in Zaporizhzhia region. What we know on day 1,353
A Ukrainian court has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison after finding him guilty of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war – the first time Ukraine has jailed a suspect on such charges. The court in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia found Dmitry Kurashov, 27, guilty of shooting dead Vitalii Hodniuk, a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in January 2024 when his dugout was captured by Russian forces. Kurashov, who was taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces along with other Russian troops soon after and pleaded guilty in court, although he later told reporters he was innocent and wanted to be exchanged in a prisoner swap. He told Reuters after the ruling on Thursday that he did not plan to appeal. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said criminal investigations were under way into the murder of 322 Ukrainian servicemen who had unconditionally laid down their arms and/or surrendered since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Ukrainian drones struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd region for the second time in almost three months, Ukraine’s general staff said on Thursday. Russian officials did not confirm the attack, although the local governor said drones started a fire at an unspecified industrial facility in the region. The refinery is the largest producer of fuel and lubricants in Russia’s southern federal district, processing more than 15m tons of crude annually, according to Ukrainian officials.
Saboteurs inside Russia burned dozens of locomotives in a bid to hamper the logistics of Russia’s armed forces, Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence said. The Freedom of Russia group used molotov cocktails to set fire to the control and power supply systems of dozens of locomotives that transported military cargo, according to a GUR statement on Thursday. It was not possible to independently verify the claim and Russian officials had no immediate comment.
Sweden and Ukraine said they had signed a letter of intent to establish a hub in Ukraine to develop new weapons technologies. The plans would see Swedish personnel working on site in Ukraine, said the Swedish defence minister, Pal Jonson. The announcement on Thursday comes after the two countries in October signed another letter of intent on aviation cooperation, which the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said could lead to Ukraine buying up to 150 of Sweden’s Gripen E fighter jets.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said foreign countries were helping Kyiv in its efforts to keep the power grid operating amid Russia’s onslaught on its energy infrastructure. “Practically every day, our power engineers, repair brigades and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are carrying out restorations on-site after attacks,” the Ukrainian president said. “Hits keep occurring across various points, especially in our communities, and especially near the Russian border and close to the front.”
Swiss commodity trader Gunvor said it had withdrawn its proposal to buy foreign assets of Russian energy company Lukoil after the US Treasury called it Russia’s “puppet” and signalled Washington opposed the deal. The move on Thursday scuttles what would have been Gunvor’s largest acquisition and underscores Washington’s attempt to use sanctions to isolate Russia and choke revenues it uses to fight the war in Ukraine.
A Moscow-backed court in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region has jailed two Colombians for 13 years each for fighting for Kyiv. The pair had fought for Ukraine in 2023 and 2024 and then vanished in July while on a stopover in Russia’s ally Venezuela en route back home after their deployment. Colombian daily El Tiempo reported in July 2024 that police arrested them in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, still wearing their Ukrainian army uniforms. The pair were next seen in a video published by Russia’s FSB security service, handcuffed, wearing Russian prison clothing and being walked through a court building by masked officers.
Collins, the actor best known for Shirley Valentine, has died aged 85. The stage and screen star died at a care home in London surrounded by family, who called her ‘a bright, sparky, witty presence’ and ‘joyful and full of energy’. Her role in Willy Russell’s comedy won her Tony and Olivier awards as well as an Oscar nomination, and she also starred in films such as Quartet and City of Joy and TV shows including Upstairs, Downstairs
The revew, the first to focus on the racism of the institution as a whole, found a culture and leadership determined to prevent real change
The “racial harm” the Metropolitan police inflicts on black people is “institutionally defended”, with its leadership and culture protecting the force from real change, an internal review has found.
The report by Dr Shereen Daniels, published on Friday, draws on internal documents and evidence, with the Met responding by accepting long-standing evidence of racism and discrimination within Britain’s biggest force.
Time is running out for Richarlison. Injuries to Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani gave the Brazilian a consistent run in Thomas Frank’s starting XI but, with just one goal since the first league game of the season, he has not taken his opportunities. Now, with Kolo Muani fit, the former Everton striker has had to make do with a place on the bench and failed to impress against FC Copenhagen in midweek, missing a penalty that another striker, Dane Scarlett, won. Competition is fierce, even for a Spurs side that registered 0.1 xG in the defeat to Chelsea – the lowest by any Premier League team this season – and speculation has already begun before the January transfer window. Both Ivan Toney (who played under Frank at Brentford) and Dusan Vlahovic (whose contract at Juventus is up next summer) have been linked. Tottenham have money to spend so Richarlison must make the most of his minutes if wants to have a future at the club, as well as keep himself in contention for Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squad with the World Cup coming up next summer. Michael Butler
Tottenham v Manchester United, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)
Undeniably strange and redolent of wider horrors at one remove, this was a groaning platter of geopolitics with a tiny little sprig of sport dusted across the top
You could almost, almost have played it for laughs. If it wasn’t so bleak, or so profoundly unsettling. But then, this is Birmingham, so there does have to be some gallows humour buried in there.
Either way an hour before kick-off on the streets outside Villa Park it became clear that the 700 police officers present were being asked to keep apart three distinct, and equally energetic factions: pro-Palestine, pro-Israeli and pro YouTubers.
Former NFL star Antonio Brown has been arrested on an attempted murder charge stemming from a shooting after a celebrity boxing event in Miami, police confirmed Thursday.
Brown, 37, was taken into custody by US Marshals in Dubai, said Miami police spokesman Mike Vega. He was flown to Essex County, New Jersey, where he is being held pending extradition to Miami, Vega said.
The first series came to a sensational, phenomenal and genuinely mind-boggling conclusion … by ruining the greatest love story of our age
Did he play a blinder? Or did the faithfuls just play really – I mean sensationally, phenomenally, mindbogglingly badly? We will argue over this on social media feeds galore, but either way the winner of the first – but surely not the last – series of The Celebrity Traitors is the treacherous Alan Carr. When first anointed by that collection of cloaks, cuffs and curt instructions we have come to know as presenter Claudia Winkleman, we thought he wouldn’t last an hour. Nor did he. “I feel sick. I’ve got a sweating problem and can’t keep a secret.” He also cannot whisper or remember whether he’s won a shield. Surrounded, however, by some of the daftest players of the game since records began (2022 here, 2021 in its native Netherlands), he made it through, having grown into the role with terrifying ease. He finished with a flourish, bursting into semi-crocodile tears about how hard it had been for him to bear the murderous burden. The two surviving faithfuls, Nick Mohammed and David Olusoga, rushed to comfort him (“It’s been tearing me apart!”). At home, Paloma Faith raises her face to the heavens and screams.
At the start of the final, there had been five surviving competitors of the original 19. After one last group mission, involving a steam train, £20,000 in padlocked caskets, keys and clues dispersed throughout the carriages, and two chain-wrapped coffins (“I took the lead a bit there,” says Joe Marler of the unwrapping. “Because I was happy to lose a finger”), they assembled for their last round table. Cat and Alan cast their votes for David, despite the historian’s impressive record of reasoning himself to every wrong conclusion possible. I remain firm in my belief that David would have made the world’s greatest traitor, but as a faithful he was catastrophic. He did manage to vote for Cat at the table, however, and she was correctly banished at last.
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