• All the buildup to the FA Cup final, 4.30pm kick-off
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Chat over. Will Hughes strolls across the car park to get some photographs taken. As it happens, the man emerging from the gym at that very moment is the Crystal Palace midfield partner whose praises Hughes has just been lavishly exalting.

“Just added about £20m to your fee in that interview,” Hughes shouts at Adam Wharton as they pass. “You can have half,” Wharton retorts. All delivered with a knowing smile, for this is the Palace of Oliver Glasner, where – as Hughes puts it – “there’s egos, but good egos”. No arrogance, none of the blame culture he sees elsewhere. “You watch other teams and hands are in the air, there’s moaning,” he says. “But I honestly don’t see any of that here.”

As her memoir of losing her sons is published, the author talks about radical acceptance and how writing fiction helped her to prepare for tragedy

As the novelist Yiyun Li often observes, there is no good way to state the facts of her life and yet they are inescapable: she had two sons, and both died by suicide. After her elder son Vincent died in 2017, at the age of 16, Li wrote a novel for him. Where Reasons End is a conversation, sometimes an argument, between a mother and her dead son, and it is a work of fiction that doesn’t feel fictional at all, because it’s also an encounter between a writer in mourning and the son she can still conjure up on the page. “With Vincent’s book there was that joy of meeting him again in the book, hearing him, seeing him, it was like he was alive,” she says. The book had 16 chapters, one for each year of his life, and Li felt she could have spent the rest of her life writing it, and also that she could not linger.

When her younger son James died in 2024, aged 19, Li wanted to write a book for him, too. James was harder to write for. Her sons were best friends but “such different boys”, she says. She and James did not argue in the same way as she did with Vincent, and he would hate to be thrust into the spotlight, or for her to write a “sentimental” book. James had a mind so brilliant that his inner workings were often unreachable – by seven or eight he’d open meal-time conversations with “apparently the Higgs boson …” or “apparently the predatory tunicates …”. He did not speak often, but could converse in eight languages and his phone was set to Lithuanian, a ninth. He once described Daniel Tammet’s Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant as the only book that captured how he felt about the world. If Vincent lived “feelingly”, James lived “thinkingly”, Li says, and she wanted her book for him to be “as clear as James, as logical and rational”.

The long-suffering Knickerbockers were the butt of jokes around the league for at least two decades, but now they’re just four games from the NBA finals

On Friday night in New York City, more than 19,000 Knicks fans poured out of Madison Square Garden and onto Seventh Avenue, celebrating their team’s improbable 4-2 series victory over the Boston Celtics. The NBA’s social media peanut gallery had previously taken issue with Knicks fans for their overly exuberant early-round victory celebrations, but after landing in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century, this party was as legit as the Knicks newfound title hopes.

New York had beaten their rivals by a franchise playoff-record margin of 38 points, ending Boston’s reign as NBA champs. If you watched the way they suffocated the Celtics, you know it wasn’t even that close. The way this series ended was as stunning as how it began, with consecutive historic Celtic meltdowns at TD Garden, when the home team surrendered 20-point second-half leads not once but twice. Then New York were moments from wrapping up another improbable victory in Game 4 when Boston cornerstone Jayson Tatum went down with an achilles injury. Back in Boston, down three games to one, with their season on the brink and their all-NBA player in the hospital recovering from season-ending surgery, Boston powered through Game 5 on pure adrenaline. That wave of raw energy had crashed by the start of Game 6, and the Celtics finally tapped out. The Garden crowd let out 25 years of shpilkes as they watched their team bounce the champs.

We recognise extreme poverty as ruinous, but this turbo-charged affluence is deeply damaging too. Treat it as such

• Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is chief executive of the New Economics Foundation and author of Power to the People
  

Once again, it’s the Hinduja family. Gopi Hinduja and his family, who run the Hinduja Group, are cited as Britain’s richest family in the latest Sunday Times rich list. The big story so far seems to be that their wealth has dropped to £35.3bn from £37.2bn the year before. But that story, and much of the discussion there will be this weekend, risks missing the real story. “Rich list” is barely the right description for the extreme wealth we should be talking about.

In 1989, when the Sunday Times first published its annual rich list, to be included someone would need to have 6,000 times the wealth of the average person in the UK. That’s already a pretty big gap – but this has now tripled to more than 18,000 times the average, according to a study by the University of Greenwich.

Edit your wardrobe, do a beauty blitz, organise your savings … Experts share tips on the tasks best tackled in small bites

Any day now I am going to do a complete wardrobe reorganisation and then make tons of money selling my old clothes on Vinted. Also, learn Spanish. Go through the 10,000 photos on my phone, print out the nice ones of the kids and put them in nice frames, and create one of those charming gallery walls. Definitely get into meditating and journalling. Should probably write a will? I’m all set. I’m just waiting for, say, a clear week to magically appear in my diary and I’ll get started.

Except, the penny is starting to drop that those pristine, blank diary pages are never going to happen. Life doesn’t work like that. And anyway, say a week off did magically appear, which it isn’t going to, wouldn’t it make more sense to go on holiday than sit on the floor sorting jumpers? If I had even half a day off, surely it would be a shame to waste it on dull jobs when I could, maybe, go to the cinema on my own – or get the train to Paris for lunch?

The attack on the northern Sumy region comes hours after Kyiv and Moscow concluded talks in Istanbul

Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a minibus that local authorities say was evacuating civilians in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.

Local authorities indicated some of those inside the minibus were being evacuated from Bilopillya, a town in the Sumy region that has come under repeated Russian attack.

Met police say the three are accused of assisting the Iranian foreign intelligence service

Three men have been charged under the National Security Act on suspicion of assisting the Iranian foreign intelligence service.

Scotland Yard said a counter-terrorism investigation had led to three Iranian men being charged for engaging in conduct likely to assist the foreign intelligence service between 14 August 2024 and 16 February 2025.

OVO Hydro, Glasgow
Her Tension world tour reaches the UK, and it’s the work of a relaxed but inherently flamboyant singer with a bold new vision for her back catalogue

The lights go down in Glasgow, and Kylie Minogue ascends from underneath the stage like a pop deity: head-to-toe in electric blue PVC, sitting in the centre of a giant neon diamond. After acclaimed runs in Australia and the US, she’s kicking off the UK leg of her Tension tour, celebrating an era that started two years ago with lead single Padam Padam – a phenomenon everywhere from gay clubs to TikTok – and continued with her equally hook-filled albums Tension and Tension II.

In contrast to some recent over-complicated arena tour concepts from the likes of Katy Perry, the Tension show is admirably straightforward after Kylie’s big entrance, allowing her to remain the focus at all times. She races through hits – some condensed into medleys – at an astonishing pace; from 1991’s What Do I Have To Do, to Good As Gone from Tension II. For Better the Devil You Know, she changes into a red sequin jumpsuit and matching mic, leading a troupe of highlighter-coloured dancers in front of a minimalist, impressionistic backdrop. There’s something of the Pet Shop Boys’ art-pop flair in the show’s considered design choices, and in Kylie’s inherent – rather than costume-driven – flamboyance.

England’s titanic tussle with Australia enthralled a nation but then the Test game vanished from UK free-to-air TV

How are you planning to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 2005 men’s Ashes? Is it finally time to get that Kevin Pietersen skunk cut? Gather your friends for a drunken knees-up around Trafalgar Square?

Realistically, a quiet afternoon on YouTube will do, with Simon Jones’s reverse-swinger to Michael Clarke on repeat, off-stump gone like a popped cork. That rabbit hole should end up taking you to Pietersen’s 2014 appearance on the Graham Norton Show in which he discusses his strained relationship with Andrew Strauss while perched next to Taylor Swift. Yes, that actually happened.

The results of the election rerun could alter the future of the country, which is suffering under political divisions

Collecting her 10-year-old son from primary school in Bucharest’s crumbling Ferentari neighbourhood, Georgeta Petre was quite sure who she would be casting her ballot for on Sunday, and why.

“I hope he will change things,” she said. “I hope he’ll do things better. Everyone before him just … lied. Look around – we can’t continue like this. I can’t afford food, or clothes for the children. I’m voting for George Simion. He will be different.”

Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza, the aftermath of the Kashmir crisis, protests in Panama, and the Cannes film festival: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

It took a few adjustments on both sides – she wasn’t keen on snails or Rembrandt – but after seeing Paris, Berlin and Venice, she wants to go again next year

A year ago, I discovered a bit of a travel hack – that if accompanied by an adult (obviously) children under the age of 12 can explore Europe by train for absolutely zilch. Profoundly susceptible to any sort of bargain, even those that promise a net deficit in the long run, I determined to take advantage of Interrail’s generous offer, despite lacking dependents of the specified vintage.

Sourcing someone under 12 was far easier than I’d imagined. When I lodged an enquiry about my 10-year-old niece, asking if Annabelle might be available for an Interrailing stint at Easter, my brother couldn’t sign her up fast enough. (Though he did insist on some caveats: in bed by 10pm, out of bed by 9am, and no watching sweary Gordon Ramsay shows).

I was too afraid to confess my feelings and be rejected, until hearing Jarvis Cocker’s words gave me a moment of clarity

The first time Gordon and I kissed I thought we’d made a terrible mistake. It was 1995, we were both 20 years old, and we were drinking at our university bar in Leicester. We had formed a friendship over the previous three years, but I had never considered Gordon in a romantic light. He was a goth at the time, which I thought was very cool, and he had this fruity, posh voice – whereas I was a timid girl from south London with a terrible perm. I remember Gordon leaning in to give me this very innocent, tentative kiss, but it caught me off guard. I felt excited but also confused. For one thing, I’d only ever known Gordon to kiss his fellow goths.

I avoided Gordon for weeks after that, which was difficult, considering we were on the same course. We bumped into each other almost every day in lectures but I made things awkward. Conversations between us didn’t flow in the same way. I’m an overthinker, whereas Gordon is much more relaxed. I think he would have been happy to keep kissing me in a casual sort of way and see where things led, but I was frightened of ruining our friendship. I was so shy at that time, and didn’t connect with people as easily as Gordon did. I had very deep feelings for him, but I wasn’t able to acknowledge them. Gordon was the closest person to me and I was terrified of losing him by having a fling.

Moore plays a creepy socialite obsessed with raptors; Meghann Fahy plays a hot mess who thinks there may be a murder cover-up … or several. This is snappy satirical TV that goes down easy – and it’s only five episodes long. Woohoo!

I have a theory that TV shows nowadays are all tonal variations on either The White Lotus, Boiling Point or possibly Yellowstone, but honestly I haven’t seen the latter. You might wish I had supporting evidence, but isn’t that what a theory is?

Anyway, this week’s pick is definitely in the White Lotus mould. Sirens (Netflix, from Thursday 22 May) unfolds over Labor Day weekend in the Lloyd Neck peninsula of upstate New York, where a wealthy group of guests descend on a beachside estate for a charity gala. The raptor conservation organisation (think falcons, not velociraptors) is run by socialite Michaela Kell, a wellness-y guru who expects obedience from everyone around her. But preparations are interrupted by Devon, a chaotic falafel waitress who has come to save her sister Simone, Michaela’s assistant. Devon comes to believe Simone has been brainwashed, and that they’re mixed up in a murder, or several. It’s a long weekend.

From Tsar Alexander II and Queen Anne to Korky the Cat, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which king’s sister, wife and lover were all called Edith?
2 Korky the Cat was the first cover star of what in 1937?
3 Which fabric is made from flax fibres?
4 What type of holiday is named from a Swahili word for journey?
5 Who orchestrated the FTX fraud?
6 Maria Mitchell, in 1847, was the first US astronomer to discover what?
7 Which west London stadium hosted one game of the 1966 World Cup?
8 What is the lowest composite number?
What links:
9 Tasmin Archer; Frederick Delius; Gareth Gates; Zayn Malik; Kimberley Walsh?
10 Buenos Aires; Canberra; Luanda; St John’s; Tirana; Vienna; Yerevan?
11 Beds; cream; espresso coffee; quotation marks; window glazing?
12 Borghese; David; François; Medici; Portland; Warwick?
13 Hawaii (1); Sicily (2); Thailand (3)?
14 The future Tsar Alexander II; Queen Anne; future Edward VII; Edward Smith-Stanley?
15 Beryl Bainbridge’s Master Georgie and JG Farrell’s Troubles?

Smartphone Nation by Dr Kaitlyn Regehr vows to help us take control. But can her methods beat the algorithms?

Can you count the number of times you’ve looked at your phone today? Or how often you’ve opened it to do one thing to find yourself doing something else entirely?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have little idea – merely an inkling – that it’s more times than you’d hope. Smartphone algorithms are designed to capture our attention and hold it, but a new book written by an academic who studies them promises to help people take back control.

These vegan burgers are child’s play and fun to make, too

This is exactly my kind of recipe. It’s easy, flavourful and, as a bonus, it’s crisp, too. In fact, it’s so simple, you could make the mixture with your eyes closed or, better still, give it to a six-year-old to do (they could also make it with their eyes closed). The key is the black beans, because they crisp up perfectly, and the condiments, which supercharge the flavour. There is one small catch, though: the onions need caramelising until they’re jammy, and ready to top the patty. You don’t have to do this, but I’m here to tell you that it is worthwhile (especially if there’s a six-year-old already making the burgers).

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

He’d been waiting about a decade to make his latest dash for freedom, and he grasped the opportunity like a pro

A reader writes, asking how I can let my tortoise roam free in my back garden. She’d like to do the same with her adopted tortoise, but is worried it will escape.

I explain that my garden is bounded by high brick walls, safely sealing the tortoise in, but that I too am consumed by fear that he will escape. He’s very good at hiding, and this always strikes me as a strategy: wait until they think you’ve already gone, and their guard will drop.

Familia Torres has been making wine in Catalonia since 1870, but says it may have to move to higher altitudes in 30 years’ time

A leading European winemaker has warned it may have to abandon its ancestral lands in Catalonia in 30 years’ time because climate change could make traditional growing areas too dry and hot.

Familia Torres is already installing irrigation at its vineyards in Spain and California and is planting vines on land at higher altitudes as it tries to adapt to more extreme conditions.

The orthodontist’s strange mouth exercises are beloved by incels seeking a manlier shape – and a fast-growing TikTok trend in classrooms around the world. So why has he been struck off the dentists’ register?

In a two-storey house in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Dr Mike Mew perches on an ergonomic kneeling chair in front of two vast computer monitors, a microphone and three dazzling studio lights mounted on a rig, a vision mixing console and a studio camera complete with Autocue. Behind him, on a white shelf, is an enormous plastic mouth with perfectly aligned teeth.

Among stacks of files on the shelves below the oversized mouth, there are board games, a crystal-making kit, a pottery craft set – unwelcome reminders that this is not actually a dental clinic but a family home. The toys will need to be covered up before Mew’s new plans can be put into action. “The final thing for me to do is to go to Ikea and buy some white boxes,” he tells me. “Then I can sit here and I can change the world.”

William, 24, a business development manager, meets Lucy, 25, a doctor

What were you hoping for?
An evening with someone fun, full of character and full of conversations.

After a week of bruising criticism, the PM will show what he really stands for when he signs a pivotal agreement with Brussels

Keir Starmer has had to grow a thicker skin over the past few years, but there are times when critics can still get under it. One such moment came this week, when he replied to a question about whether there was “any belief he holds which survives a week in Downing Street” by snapping back: “Yes, the belief that she talks rubbish.”

He probably knows it wasn’t a great response, not least because the MP who provoked this flash of tetchiness, Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts, is far from being the most deserving recipient. By way of explanation, if not justification, it’s worth pointing out that Starmer’s emotions were already pretty raw this week after a suspected arson attack on his family home in north London. And he was also frustrated that his announcement of proposals for lowering immigration numbers had been interpreted as dancing to Nigel Farage’s divisive tune, or even a deliberate echo of the overtly racist one played by Enoch Powell half a century ago.

Tom Baldwin is a journalist and former senior adviser to the Labour party. He is the author of Keir Starmer: The Biography

Medications such as Ozempic have transformed obesity treatment and are now leading a healthcare revolution

Obesity was once medicine’s Cinderella subject with some questioning whether the condition should even be viewed as a biological disorder. But the arrival of a new class of appetite-suppressing drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy has transformed obesity treatment into the most scientifically exciting and commercially lucrative area of healthcare.

These drugs lead to dramatic weight loss, are shifting perceptions and, according to a series of results announced at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Málaga this week, promise health benefits that extend far beyond weight management.

• Midfielder played 187 games for Eagles, including 2006 premiership
• Selwood family says ‘words cannot express the grief and sadness we feel’

The West Coast premiership star Adam Selwood has been remembered as the ultimate teammate with an infectious personality, after his death aged 41.

Selwood’s death in Perth on Saturday came three months after his identical twin and fellow former AFL player Troy Selwood died.

Donald Trump is happy to lay his cards on the table

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

While several labels have anniversaries this year, the event itself celebrates a milestone. After losing previous organiser IMG, the Australian Fashion Council relaunches it with new CEO, Kellie Hush

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• ‘It’s about life and dance and colour’: inclusivity still in fashion

The age of impunity is over for male violence against women, say campaigners after the actor was found guilty of sexual assault

When Gérard Depardieu, one of France’s biggest cinema stars, was placed on the sex offender register this week after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021, it was a historic moment for the #MeToo movement in the country.

“It was a message to all men in power that they are answerable to the courts and can be convicted,” said Catherine Le Magueresse, who represented the European Association Against Violence Towards Women at Work (AVFT) at the trial. “The message is: watch out, the impunity is over.”

Sunday’s election could threaten the country’s place in Europe if Russia’s dark arts and historical amnesia win the day

Somewhere in my attic, among my rather extensive Polly Pocket and Barbie dolls collection, there’s a poster by the Romanian caricaturist Mihai Stănescu gathering dust. Truth be told it isn’t mine, it’s my mother’s. She passed it on to me a while ago and it spent most of my early adulthood taped to my bedroom door. On one line the poster reads “Before: EU – RO – PA”, with the RO dropping out. Beneath it: “After 22 December 1989: EUROPA” with the RO restored: Romania finally a part of Europe again.

Stănescu was one of the few caricaturists who dared to make subversive work mocking the Ceaușescu regime. He was under constant surveillance but his drawings encapsulated the hope many harboured for a democratic Romania. A Romania turned westwards. This same hope sustained the 1989 revolution. One of the best known placards held up by protesters in December 1989 read: “Copiii noștri vor fi liberi”. (Our children will be free.)

• Jury discharged in Hockey Canada proceedings
• Judge alone will determine outcome of trial

The judge handling the trial of five Canadian hockey players accused of sexual assault dismissed the jury Friday after a complaint that defense attorneys were laughing at some of the jurors.

Ontario superior court Justice Maria Carroccia will now handle the high-profile case on her own.

When Craig Jeffrey heard about a 200-mile foot race through Western Australia he thought it sounded ‘brilliant’. But after a while, things got odd

During a 100 mile (160km) race around Mount Kosciuszko last year, I was caught in a lightning storm. I got talking to a fellow runner who was sheltering with me. She told me that there was an even longer race, out in Western Australia. “You must do it!” she said. “The food is incredible, and people share disgusting pictures of their toes afterwards.”

It sounded brilliant. The race is called Delirious West, a 200-mile run completed in a single push.

Euthanasia is most common response to welfare incidents in sheep, pigs and cattle with about 4% of animals experiencing serious incidents, research finds

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Thousands of sheep, pigs and cattle are being subjected to emergency killings after transport to Australian export abattoirs, an analysis of internal government records shows.

Curtin University researchers have also found it is taking almost 11 hours, on average, to inspect animals for injury and sickness after they arrive at abattoir facilities – delays that “significantly increase the likelihood of animals requiring emergency euthanasia”.

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The third week of a coronial inquest into the death of Cauchi and the six people he killed gave the fullest picture of his illness yet

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One point that has never been in dispute over the course of the coronial inquest into a mass stabbing in Sydney last year was that schizophrenic man Joel Cauchi was psychotic when he wielded a 30cm Ka-Bar knife, attacking 16 people and killing six.

The expert psychiatric evidence was “clear and unanimous” about Cauchi, 40, being “floridly psychotic” on 13 April 2024, the senior counsel assisting, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, told the New South Wales coroner’s court in her opening remarks almost three weeks ago.

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The British food icon visits Australia often, sharing her favourite meals along the way. Guardian Australia’s team has recommendations for where to dine next on her current trip

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Nigella Lawson loves Australia. She often visits, and when she does she tends to post about her favourite places to eat on Instagram. “Walking through the doors after a year away just felt like coming home,” the British cook and food writer wrote about her return to the Potts Point restaurant Fratelli Paradiso in early May.

She’s since dined at another longtime favourite, Sean’s Panorama in Bondi, where she says the roast chook “epitomises the perfect Sydney Sunday”. We also know she’ll make a beeline for Small’s Deli in Potts Point for a meatball sandwich, a place she dreams of as soon as her plane ticket is booked.

• Foul-mouthed tirade after drive found water on the 18th
• Matt Fitzpatrick in group behind leader Jhonattan Vegas

Tyrrell Hatton’s love-hate relationship with his professional domain continues. The Englishman will inevitably be fined after a foul-mouthed tirade during his second round of the US PGA Championship was picked up on live television coverage.

Hatton was within a shot of the lead when reaching the tee at the 18th, his 9th. Hatton’s drive found a water hazard. What happened next was rather typical for a player prone to tempestuous moments on golf courses. The 33-year-old bawled out “piece of shit” before adding a c-word insult, apparently towards his driver. Hatton’s mood hardly improved as he slumped to a triple-bogey seven.

Administration’s appeal to quickly deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act rejected with two dissenting

The supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law.

Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

IDF aiming to seize strategic areas as part of expansion of war against Hamas in attempt to force release of hostages

• Israel-Gaza war: latest news updates

Israel has announced a major new offensive in Gaza after launching a wave of airstrikes on the territory that killed more than 100 people, in what it said was a fresh effort to force Hamas to release hostages.

In a statement late on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had “launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza”.

Imogen Poots takes the lead in Stewart’s choppy but compelling adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir of abuse and sexual uncertainty

Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, adapted by her from the 2011 abuse memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, is running a very high temperature, though never exactly collapsing into outright feverishness or torpor. It’s a poetry-slam of pain and autobiographical outrage, recounting a writer’s journey towards recovering the raw material of experience to be sifted and recycled into literary success.

The present day catastrophes of failed relationships, drink and drugs are counterpointed with Super-8 memories and epiphanies of childhood with extreme closeups on remembered details and wry, murmuring voiceovers. It borders on cliche a little, but there is compassion and storytelling ambition here.

Lidia herself, well played by Imogen Poots, is a young woman who was abused in her teenage years by her clenched and furious architect father (Michael Epp) – along with her sister (Thora Birch) who often sacrificed herself to their father’s loathsome attentions to divert him away from Lidia – and their mother went into depressive denial throughout.

Lidia throws herself into being a fanatically focused swim team champ which gets her a college scholarship that she messes up through booze and coke. The film shows how in the water she feels free; swimming laps against the clock gives her a purpose and an escape – a cancellation of identity.

But now Lidia has a terrible secret: it is not merely that she is an abuse survivor – she masturbates incessantly thinking about it, and utterly despises her weak-beta male boyfriend (Earl Cave) for being nice and gentle. (That, and being spanked by her swim coach, is also a complicating factor for her interest in BDSM.)

So when her artistic opportunity arrives, so does a toxic crisis of daddy issues. Her attempts at writing get her the chance to participate in an experimental collaborative novel being masterminded by the counterculture legend Ken Kesey (Jim Belushi) whose interest in her appears unsettlingly like her father’s. Is history repeating itself? Is degradation the price you pay for success in writing – or swimming – or anything? Her own writerly evolution is shown by the books she reads herself – Vita Sackville-West’s biography of Joan of Arc as a kid, William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury as a student, and then, as a young writer, Kathy Acker’s Empire of the Senseless.

These personal stories and their movie versions have been undermined recently by notorious fake memoirist JT LeRoy – whose alter ego Savannah Knoop was actually played by Kristen Stewart in a screen version of her troubled life.

But for all that, and some callow indie indulgences, this is an earnest and heartfelt piece of work, and Stewart has guided strong, intelligent performances.

• Quarterback re-ups for $265m over five years, ESPN says
• Purdy led 49ers to Super Bowl appearance in 2023

The San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy have agreed to a five-year, $265m contract extension, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Friday. The deal includes $181m in guaranteed money, solidifying Purdy’s role as the franchise quarterback moving forward.

Purdy, 25, was the final pick of the 2022 NFL draft – familiarly known as ‘Mr Irrelevant’ – but quickly defied expectations. After stepping in as the starter midway through his rookie season, Purdy led the 49ers to back-to-back playoff appearances, including a trip to the Super Bowl in February 2024. He was also named to the Pro Bowl and finished fourth in MVP voting that season.

Cannes film festival
The U2 singer’s solo stage appearance sees him reflect on his anguished family past and have a decent go at being an ordinary Joe

The stadium-conquering rock superstar Bono finds a smaller arena than usual for this more intimate and much acclaimed “quarter-man” show, performed solo without his U2 bandmates Adam Clayton, David “The Edge” Evans and Larry Mullen Jr and filmed live on stage at New York’s Beacon theatre in 2023 by Andrew Dominik. It’s a confident, often engaging mix of music and no-frills theatrical performance, with Bono often coming across like some forgotten character that Samuel Beckett created but then suppressed due to undue levels of rock’n’roll pizzazz.

Bono delivers anecdotes from his autobiography Surrender, starting with his recent heart scare and going back to his Dublin childhood, his musical breakthrough to global fame, his post-Live Aid charity work on poverty and famine relief (though no discourse on the question of whether Live Aid was a good thing), and his religious faith which evidently morphed from a radical Christianity in his teen years to a more wide-embracing spirituality; it is all interspersed with “unplugged” versions of U2 standards accompanied by harp and cello.