From Angels with Filthy Souls in Home Alone, to Deception in The Holiday, fake movies are taking on a life of their own
The cold was brutal and so were the gangsters. It was the first – and worse, only – day of shooting, and when cinematographer Julio Macat threaded some film into his camera, it was so cold that the film snapped. The gangsters flitted around menacingly, fedoras and machine guns at the ready.
Macat was hoping to make a movie that was frightening and strange. “The goal,” he says, “was to scare a kid.” And so, even though it was 1990, he chose to shoot the noir like it was the 40s, with black and white film, fog filters on the camera lenses, and an intense, old-fashioned lighting setup to cast deep shadows on the set.
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© Photograph: © 1990 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
© Photograph: © 1990 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
© Photograph: © 1990 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Two film-makers who worked with the late playwright recall a man of extraordinary wit, endless invention and innate elegance
I was utterly knocked out by the way Tom Stoppard’s mind worked, his brilliance and by the fact he made Brazil out of a big lump of stone that I’d spent a year or two preparing. I gave that to him and out of that he carved a beautiful Michelangelo David.
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© Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer
© Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer
© Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer
Gibbs treble powers Lions back into playoff push
Detroit sack Prescott five times in dominant win
Cowboys’ playoff odds plunge after costly defeat
Jahmyr Gibbs and a defense that suddenly generated pressure and turnovers helped the Detroit Lions stay in contention for a playoff berth.
Gibbs ran for three touchdowns, including a 13-yarder with 2:19 left that sealed the Lions’ much-needed 44-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.
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© Photograph: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
© Photograph: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
© Photograph: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
In this week’s newsletter: Coroners can’t agree on how to count heat fatalities – and the dismantling of climate investments is leaving fragile communities exposed
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Donald Trump’s decision to boycott Cop30, withdraw the US from the Paris agreement and illegally terminate a slew of investments in renewable energy will not change the reality of climate breakdown for Americans.
In what has become an annual reporting tradition, I found myself in Arizona reporting on heat-related deaths during yet another gruelling heatwave, when temperatures topped 43C (110F) on 13 out of 14 straight days in Phoenix. Before embarking on this trip, I spent weeks combing through hundreds of autopsy reports, which I obtained from two county medical examiners using the Freedom of Information Act. Each death report gave me a glimpse into the person’s life, and I used clues from the case notes to track down friends and loved ones in the hopes of better understanding why heat is killing people in the richest country in the world.
How cyclones and monsoon rains converged to devastate parts of Asia – visual guide
The environmental costs of corn: should the US change how it grows its dominant crop?
‘Those who eat Chilean salmon cannot imagine how much human blood it carries with it’
Americans are dying from extreme heat. Autopsy reports don’t show the full story
‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival
‘It happened so fast’: the shocking reality of indoor heat deaths in Arizona
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© Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
© Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
© Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Wonderful art, amazing design and beautiful locations have drawn our tipsters to chapels, churches and cathedrals from Norway to Bulgaria
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The Tromsøysund parish church, commonly called the Arctic Cathedral, in Tromsø is a modernist delight. The simple, elegant exterior that reflects the surrounding scenery and evokes traditional Sami dwellings is matched by an interior that has the most comfortable pews I have ever sat on. The stunning glass mosaic titled the Return of Christ at one end may not be to everyone’s taste, but to me had power and majesty. Exiting this magnificent building after an organ recital to be met by the northern lights flickering overhead was awe-inspiring.
Bruce Horton
© Photograph: Stephen Fleming/Alamy
© Photograph: Stephen Fleming/Alamy
© Photograph: Stephen Fleming/Alamy
From Seamus Heaney’s collected poems and Simon Armitage’s animal spirits, to prizewinners Karen Solie and Vidyan Ravinthiran
Many of 2025’s most notable collections have been powered by a spirit of wild experimentation, pushing at the bounds of what “poetry” might be thought to be. Sarah Hesketh’s 2016 (CB Editions) is a fabulous example: it takes 12 interviews with a variety of anonymous individuals about the events of that year and presents fragments of the transcripts as prose poems. The cumulative effect of these voices is haunting and full of pathos, as “they vote for whoever, and their life stays exactly the same”.
Luke Kennard and Nick Makoha also daringly remixed their source material and inspirations. The former’s latest collection, The Book of Jonah (Picador), moves the minor prophet out of the Bible into a world of arts conferences, where he is continually reminded that his presence everywhere is mostly futile. Makoha’s The New Carthaginians (Penguin) turns Jean-Michel Basquiat’s idea of the exploded collage into a poetic device. The result? “The visible / making itself known by the invisible.”
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© Composite: Debora Szpilman
© Composite: Debora Szpilman
© Composite: Debora Szpilman
Exclusive: Group’s open letter says Reform UK leader must take responsibility for behaviour as a schoolboy
A group of Holocaust survivors have demanded Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for the antisemitic comments that fellow pupils of Dulwich College allege he made toward Jewish pupils.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with intent but may have engaged in “banter in a playground”.
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© Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
© Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
© Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover Program
It felt like walking up a mountain during a temperature inversion. You struggle through fog so dense you can scarcely see where you’re going. Suddenly, you break through the top of the cloud, and the world is laid out before you. It was that rare and remarkable thing: a eureka moment.
For the past three years, I’d been struggling with a big and frustrating problem. In researching my book Regenesis, I’d been working closely with Iain Tolhurst (Tolly), a pioneering farmer who had pulled off something extraordinary. Almost everywhere, high-yield farming means major environmental harm, due to the amount of fertiliser, pesticides and (sometimes) irrigation water and deep ploughing required. Most farms with apparently small environmental impacts produce low yields. This, in reality, means high impacts, as more land is needed to produce a given amount of food. But Tolly has found the holy grail of agriculture: high and rising yields with minimal environmental harm.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
Chewy, marshmallow-coated Rice Krispie baubles that are as fun to make as they are to gift
These edible baubles make a joyful addition to the Christmas table or tree. Soft, chewy, marshmallow-coated Rice Krispies are studded with pistachios and cranberries, chocolate and ginger, or peppermint candy cane; they’re as fun to make as they are to eat, and they make a perfect little gift. To add a ribbon for hanging, cut small lengths of ribbon, then loop and knot the ends. Push the knotted end gently into the top of each ball while it’s still pliable, then reshape around it, so it holds the knot securely as it sets. Alternatively, wrap each bauble in cellophane, then gather at the top and tie with a ribbon, leaving a long loop for hanging.
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© Photograph: Robert Billington/The Guardian. Food styling: Loïc Parisot Prop styling: Anna Wilkins. Food styling assistant: Sophie Pry.n Photo assistant: Kate Anglestein.
© Photograph: Robert Billington/The Guardian. Food styling: Loïc Parisot Prop styling: Anna Wilkins. Food styling assistant: Sophie Pry.n Photo assistant: Kate Anglestein.
© Photograph: Robert Billington/The Guardian. Food styling: Loïc Parisot Prop styling: Anna Wilkins. Food styling assistant: Sophie Pry.n Photo assistant: Kate Anglestein.
Climate crisis and overfishing contributed to loss of 95% of penguins in two breeding colonies in South Africa, research finds
More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found.
More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period, according to the paper, which said the climate crisis and overfishing were driving declines.
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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
© John G Mabanglo/EPA, via Shutterstock
© Ivan Arias/Reuters
Unflattering colours, shapeless sacks and everything covered in cheap sequins – no one looks good in the tacky ‘festive’ wear that floods our high streets every December. Enough is enough: it’s time to take a stand and stop buying these crimes against fashion, writes Helen Coffey
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