(PIAS)
The Jarman brothers’ ninth album adds a little 80s pop sheen to their distorted guitars and confident songwriting, while always sounding exactly like the indie stalwarts

Last summer, the BBC broadcast an eight-part podcast called The Rise and Fall of Indie Sleaze. Its third episode heavily featured the Cribs’ bassist and vocalist Gary Jarman talking about his band’s first flush of mid-00s fame. It centred on their 2005 single Hey Scenesters!, from which the episode also took its name. It was a curious choice: on close examination, Hey Scenesters! wasn’t a celebration of what some people unfortunately dubbed the New Rock Revolution so much as the sound of Jarman and his bandmate brothers poking fun at it.

There was the peculiar dichotomy of the Cribs in a nutshell. They were a band so of the mid-00s moment that they were nearly signed to a record label founded by Myspace. But they always seemed slightly apart from the scene. They were certainly less voracious in the pursuit of mainstream success than contemporaries Razorlight or Kaiser Chiefs: “A cash injection, a nasty infection – don’t regret it,” offers a song from their ninth album, Selling a Vibe, with the pointed title Self Respect. They were more in tune with what their sometime-producer Edwyn Collins called “proper indie” from a pre-Britpop age, when “indie” indicated not a predilection for skinny jeans and trilby hats, but something set apart from the mainstream that viewed the attentions of Top of the Pops and the tabloid press with deep suspicion and balanced limited commercial ambitions against artistic freedom. It was a point underlined by the kind of artists who gave them co-signs. Quite aside from the former frontman of Orange Juice, there was Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Johnny Marr – who briefly joined the Cribs, co-writing 2009’s Ignore the Ignorant – and the late producer/engineer Steve Albini.

French president warned the US under Donald Trump was ‘breaking free from international rules’

Another news line dominating this week’s coverage of European politics is to do with Greenland, and the US president Donald Trump’s ambitions to somehow take control of the Danish semiautonomous territory.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said last night that he had plans to meet Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland as a crisis escalates within Nato over US threats to take over the Arctic territory.

Governor Tim Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard and expressed outrage over the shooting

Here are some more images from the various demonstrations that took place yesterday:

There are more anti-ICE protests planned across the United States today, with rallies expected in New York, North Carolina and Texas.

Advocates suing to reverse administration’s surcharge system that has led to passport checks and angry visitors

A new $100 fee for foreign tourists entering US national parks has triggered chaos and frustrating waits, with staff reporting long entry lines as citizenship checks are made and irate visitors regularly ditching plans to patronize some of America’s most cherished landscapes.

The new fee system, introduced by the Trump administration from 1 January, has caught many visitors and National Park Service (NPS) staff off-guard, with checks now having to be undertaken to assess nationality and tourists often turning away from entrances rather than pay the surcharge. The Guardian heard accounts of problems from several NPS staff, speaking anonymously, who work at different parks across the country.

Coote, 43, had previously pleaded guilty to making an indecent moving image of a child

The former Premier League referee David Coote has been given a suspended sentence after he was found to have a sexual video of a 15-year-old boy in school uniform on his laptop.

Judge Shant said Coote, 43, had a “spectacular fall from grace” after police charged him with making a category A video, the most serious kind, of a 15-year-old schoolboy. The charge refers to activities such as downloading, sharing or saving photos or videos containing abuse.

The Venezuelan oil industry is ‘a total bust’ according to Donald Trump, something he has promised to ‘fix’ after attacking Caracas and seizing the country’s leader. But with analysts estimating it could take up to 14 years and billions to fix, what is in it for the US president? Jillian Ambrose, the Guardian’s energy correspondent, explains why Venezuela’s dense, sticky oil is so valuable to Trump

Somewhere between record label and artist project, False Aralia harks back to microhouse and dub techno with its deep, detailed productions

From San Francisco
Recommended if you like Rhythm and Sound, Ricardo Villalobos, Vladislav Delay
Up next Double LP from Topdown Dialectic released in spring

False Aralia disappears into a misty gulch somewhere between record label and artist project. It’s ostensibly a label, where each EP has a different named artist, and each sleeve, designed by Nick Almquist, features a different abstract expressionist monochrome doodle. But all the tracks are numbered, not named, and each EP is actually the work of just one producer, Izaak Schlossman (credited as IS), joined by a changing cast of collaborators.

Judge says there is plenty of evidence to suggest OpenAI’s leaders made assurances nonprofit structure would be kept

• Business live – latest updates

Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is to go to trial after a US judge said there is plenty of evidence to support the billionaire’s case.

The world’s richest man, who co-founded OpenAI, is suing the ChatGPT developer and its chief executive, Sam Altman, over claims its leaders violated the organisation’s founding mission by shifting to a for-profit model.

Given his rise during the ego joyride of the 1980s, it’s no shock that Trump’s foreign policy is to emulate that decade’s belligerent cinema

The box office barnstormer of 2026 arrived early this year. A sleazy banana-republic dictator flooding the American streets with blow. The over-the-border Delta Force extraction squad sent to pluck this schmo out of his impregnable fortress. The bronzed tough-talker who’s firing an RPG up the tailpipe of the international rules-based order – but who gets the job done. Call it: Caracas Thunder.

Sounds like a bit of a throwback, you might be thinking. But, judging by his press conference after the US military’s abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump seemed to have finally achieved his dream of directing his own 80s action movie.

(We indulge in) a bit of roll play is an explicit drama about a young disabled man’s sexual expression – and puts uncomfortable questions to its audience

“I’m asked quite a lot why everything I make ends up being about sex,” says Scottish writer and director Robert Softley Gale, artistic director of the company Birds of Paradise. His new production, (We indulge in) a bit of roll play, is designed to provoke frank discussions around sex and disability. “People say the right things and that they support equality, but what if you push that into areas that are less comfortable? Like would you ever date a disabled person? Would you marry a disabled person? Would you have sex with a disabled person? Some would go, ‘Yeah, of course I would.’ But would they? There’s still discomfort in recognising that disabled people have sex lives.”

Softley Gale and his co-writers, Hana Pascal Keegan and Gabriella Sloss, aim to challenge audiences in the show which he is also directing. They hope to counter narratives around disabled people needing charity or pity, and instead show lives that are complex and nuanced. “We don’t see a lot of disabled characters full stop. Seeing them having respectful, enjoyable sex is almost unheard of. By doing that in the ways that we do, we’re being quite provocative,” he says.

• League One club asked for greater share of gate receipts

• Manchester City not changing their standard club policy

Manchester City will not offer Exeter extra money from Saturday’s third-round FA Cup tie. The financially troubled League One club this week revealed they had asked the Premier League club for a greater proportion of the gate receipts as a “statement of solidarity”.

Exeter, whose supporters’ trust is the club’s majority shareholder, will take 8,000 fans to a sold-out Etihad Stadium to face the seven-time FA Cup winners. Each club gets 45% of gate receipts, with the other 10% taken by the Football Association, in line with competition rules. It is estimated ticket sales will generate between £250,000 and £400,000 for Exeter.

Women have been double barrelling their names since the 15th century – and now men including Adam Ramsay Peaty are finally joining them

After attempting to make his mark as a footballer, photographer and chef, at last Brooklyn Peltz Beckham appears to have secured his legacy. He will no longer be remembered as simply the nepo-baby son of David and Victoria; he’ll also go down in history as a somewhat unlikely/possibly accidental feminist activist.

It was when Brooklyn married Nicola Peltz in 2022 that he became Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, an ally who turbo-boosted a quietly growing trend. Rather than a heterosexual bride surrendering her name and adopting her husband’s as default, or double-barrelling alone, both partners take both names. It’s modern, equal and refreshing, as opposed to proper Handmaid’s Tale vibes.

We must not let geoengineering be shaped behind closed doors. Climate justice demands an inclusive approach

As the world faces the challenges of the climate crisis and critical threshold levels or tipping points may be reached soon, a disputable idea is gaining momentum as a potential solution: solar geoengineering – the deliberate reflection of sunlight to cool the planet. Advocates argue it could buy us time. Critics warn of unknown risks. Some see it as a possible emergency break if temperatures spiral out of control. Others call it a dangerous distraction that undermines meaningful climate action.

Research into solar geoengineering is advancing, including exploration of techniques such as stratospheric aerosol injection, which would involve spraying tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to mimic the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions, and marine cloud brightening, which aims to enhance the reflectivity of low-lying marine clouds. While stratospheric aerosol injection is not being conducted, these technologies are being studied with increasing urgency in the global north. In the global south, however, they remain largely invisible to public discourse and policymaking.

Supporters serenaded Solskjær, Carrick and Fletcher among others at Burnley and staged a brief anti-Ratcliffe protest

“Jim can’t fix this,” the sign said. Bright red letters nestled on a white background, a stark contrast in an away end at Turf Moor full of dark-coated figures in front of which they were held aloft. It was small, a couple of square metres of material, maybe. But the message to Sir Jim Ratcliffe was powerful. Remember your lane, Jim? Yeah, stick in it, pal.

As Darren Fletcher, in Manchester United blazer and red tie, strolled along the touchline, flanked by tracksuited his former teammate and friend Jonny Evans, the flag flew. And then it was gone. The protest was done.

The practice is ‘much more widespread’ than previously realised, researchers say, with serious environmental impact

The household burning of plastic for heating and cooking is widespread in developing countries, suggests a global study that raises concerns about its health and environmental impacts.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, surveyed more than 1,000 respondents across 26 countries.

State residents worth more than $1bn could face one-off, 5% tax to help fund education, food assistance and healthcare

A battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires – with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state.

Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.

PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch/Switch 2, Xbox, PC; Square-Enix
This landmark role-playing game remains a revolutionary tour de force

At first glance, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, first released in 1997 and now available in newly remastered guise, does little to separate itself from other boilerplate fantasy fiction. There is a hero, Ramza – an idealistic nobleman with luscious blond hair who cavorts about the medieval-inspired realm of Ivalice in search of high adventure. But quickly, and with narrative elegance, the picture complicates: peasant revolutionaries duke it out with gilded monarchists; machiavellian plots plunge the kingdom into chaos. Ramza must navigate this knotty political matrix, all while experiencing his own ideological awakening.

There is a strong case to be made that Final Fantasy Tactics tells a better story than the landmark Final Fantasy VII (which saw Cloud Strife and a ragtag bunch of eco-terrorist pals taking on the shady megacorporation Shinra). And with our real-world political focus shifting from the looming threat of the climate crisis to the more pressing rise of fascism (though the two are inextricably linked), one can make the argument that Tactics is now also the more timely game.

• A league champion with Leeds, midfielder won 59 caps

• As Wales manager just missed out on 1994 World Cup

The former Leeds and Wales midfielder Terry Yorath has died at the age of 75 after a short illness, his family have said in a statement.

Born in Cardiff, Yorath played a big part in the Leeds team under Don Revie, winning the First Division title in 1974, before spells with Coventry, Tottenham and Bradford. He also won 59 caps for Wales.

Today’s rumours are riding the District line

Antoine Semenyo’s farewell goal for Bournemouth, before his move to Manchester City, sets off a chain reaction over who succeeds him. Ethan Nwaneri, who has struggled for game time at Arsenal, is wanted by a few suitors.

Bournemouth are very interested in a loan move for someone who was the next big thing not too long ago. And still can be, though the word is he still wishes to stay a Gunner and play his part in a title-winning team.

Vast swathes of the country’s trees have been killed off by droughts and infestations, in a trend sweeping across Europe. A shift towards more biodiverse cultivation could offer answers

Even the intense green of late spring cannot mask the dead trees in the Harz mountains. Standing upright across the gentle peaks in northern Germany, thousands of skeletal trunks mark the remnants of a once great spruce forest.

Since 2018, the region has been ravaged by a tree-killing bark beetle outbreak, made possible by successive droughts and heatwaves. It has transformed a landscape known for its verdant beauty into one dominated by a sickly grey.

• Reference to ‘lies’ deleted from his social media post

• ‘It should be other people coming out to speak,’ he writes

Cristian Romero has taken an apparent swipe at Tottenham’s board for staying silent amid the team’s struggles. The captain posted a strongly worded message after Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth that initially appeared to accuse the hierarchy of telling “lies” before being edited to remove that incendiary reference.

What remained on Romero’s Instagram post, though, was what an apparent call for the Spurs directors to speak up. The players were again subjected to abuse by some of their fans after a latest loss that leaves Tottenham with five points from their past six matches, three of which have ended in defeat.

A federal enforcement operation ended with a woman dead and the facts contested. The NBA cannot treat state violence in a residential neighborhood as background noise

The SUV sat motionless against a tree on a south Minneapolis street, its engine quiet, angled as if it had simply run out of gas. Except the windshield bore a small shattered star, delicate and sharp, like a snowflake pressed into glass. Cold Minnesota air leaked through the fracture, settling over the still body inside. The car became a sealed room, a thin shell holding death in place, surrounded by the stuffed animals of the woman’s children.

In the street, witnesses screamed. Not in words, but in sounds that come before language, as reality breaks faster than thought.

• White-ball captain issues apology for October incident

• Latest revelation just hours after abject Ashes reversal

Harry Brook has issued a public apology for becoming embroiled in a late-night incident in New Zealand just before the Ashes, admitting his actions “brought embarrassment to both myself and the England team”.

A matter of hours after the 4-1 series defeat by Australia was confirmed in Sydney and shortly after the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, Richard Gould, launched a formal review into the tour – including into the behaviour of players – the growing sense of crisis around the team deepened.

This six-part adaptation of the bestselling 2020 novel about a murder investigation is twisty, absurd and bingeable. It’s great January viewing

A woman lies bloodied and twitching her last on the bonnet of a car parked deep in a wood. Another woman arrives home bloodied, gasping with fear and for wine, and starts scrubbing her hands before clearing her flat of – well, everything.

A female voiceover intones that there are two sides to every story. “Which means someone is always lying.” Absolute nonsense, obviously, but it sounds great and more importantly it confirms what we were hoping: that we are in the presence of a glossy, efficient adaptation of a bestselling thriller and it is time to switch off our brains and enjoy (unless you are the type who likes to try to solve the mystery before the characters do, in which case, Godspeed and let me know where you get the energy from).