We’re being called the “new Stoke City” for our set pieces – but for as long as Martin Ødegaard is around we’ll keep the Tony Pulis comparisons quiet. There’s been no better example of his all-round brilliance than in the dazzling 5-1 demolition of Sporting. There have been some frustrations over the blunders that set us back in the title race but it’d be churlish to complain while we’re still in contention in all competitions and enjoying such sumptuous entertainment.
Euro 2024 champion reflects on sealing Spain’s triumph and how a team without big names were stronger together
After breakfast on the morning of the Euro 2024 final, a small group of players stayed in the dining room on the first floor of Spain’s hotel on Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and talked. They had sat together most days over the five weeks spent at their Der Öschberghof HQ outside Donaueschingen and all round Germany, from Gelsenkirchen to Düsseldorf, Cologne to Stuttgart and Munich, a bunch of friends chatting about everything and nothing, but 14 July wasn’t most days. Back in Berlin where it had all begun, this was the last. It was also the best day of Mikel Oyarzabal’s life and theirs, too. And somehow they knew.
“There was some feeling inside,” Oyarzabal recalls five months on, strolling across the pitch at Zubieta, Real Sociedad’s training ground, and into the warmth of a small office. “Álvaro Morata says I’m going to score. Álex Remiro too. And that morning the five of us from la Real were sitting at the table: Remi, [Mikel] Merino, Zubi [Martín Zubimendi], Robin [Le Normand] and me. We would always hang about after eating and chat. I’d been saying it for a while and I said it then: one of us was going to be important, we would have our moment.”
From the Two Ronnies to TikTok via near-forgotten TV classics, here’s our dose of daily fun to ring the new year in with cheer
Amid the cascade of solemn, grimly sensible resolutions we inevitably set ourselves at this time of year, there is a task of universal importance that all too often slips through the net: laugh more. It’s something that more or less all of us agree is a good idea – few people would confidently say “no thanks, I laugh too much actually, and if anything I need to cut down” (perhaps a particularly giggly funeral director). But how does one achieve such an aim? When the cost of living continues to squeeze us into oblivion? When we live in the age of enshittification? And, above all else, in grim, desolate January?
Enter the Cultural Diet, the annual Observer feature that offers up 31 pieces of work, one for each day of the month, to help enrich and uplift the start of your year. This year, the theme is comedy – there can surely be no better inoculation against the unspecified horrors of a new year – and the weighty task of issuing the recommendations has fallen to me.
As 2025 dawns, we look back at the star players over the last 12 months of economic drama, mishap and scandal
The end of the year is a time for pausing, reflection and exhaustion. But before throwing ourselves into 2025, it’s worth sifting through the remnants of 2024 to see who in the business world has done something worth remembering.
So, once more with gusto, the Observer Agenda page brings you its awards for the brightest – or perhaps most glaring – lights in the business world this year.
Tech selloffs not only cost tax revenue and jobs, but are turning the UK into a vassal state
There is much to admire about the US. The great French social observer Alexis de Tocqueville, nearly 200 years ago, lauded its commitment to civic virtue, individual self-improvement and hard work – legacies of its puritan founders.
Those traits are still evident today, but alongside them a darker one has emerged. The US, the hegemon of the 20th century still committed to democracy, has changed. It has transmuted into an imperial power careless of democracy but ever readier to exact economic tribute from its vassal states.
The late feminist artists explored ideas of doubling and twinship, as well as helping to redefine notions of craft skills
The photographer Colleen Kenyon made this new year portrait of her identical twin sister Kathleen in 1977. At the time the two of them were embarking on a shared artistic journey that put them at the forefront of feminist artists interested in reclaiming and redefining “craft” skills, using photomontage and hand-colouring techniques to celebrate and ironise traditionally “domestic” artistic expression, such as scrapbooking. Over the subsequent 25 years the twins, born in 1951, pursued this practice at the Center for Photography at Woodstock in upstate New York, where Colleen became executive director in 1981 and her sister joined her as associate director. Together they developed the exhibition space and a programme of workshops to make the institution a prime mover in the advancement of women in the arts, and for artists of colour.
Their own distinctive photographic ideas developed both individually and in tandem in those years. Colleen focused on intricate print-making techniques and delicate hand-colouring of female portraits, while Kathleen pursued her interest in collage, often manipulating mass-produced images of women to give them a pointed comic or political edge. Frequently, the sisters explored ideas of doubling and twinship – their academic parents had dressed them identically until they were 10, before they each insisted on making their own fashion choices – and their art examines their shared genetics and discrete characters in multiple ways.
The poet talks about newspapers and television, coffee and strawberries, and how Monday’s gloomy presence hangs over every Sunday
Sunday habits? A favourite is Desert Island Discs on Radio 4. Or I’ll watch a re-run of Match of The Day on BBC One at 7.30am since I missed it working Saturday.
Then what? My local newsagents only order about three copies of each newspaper, so I have to get on the bike to snatch them. Then I read them. That’s my Sunday pursuit.
Sunday brekkie? I’m a creature of habit. My breakfast is always the same. A quarter pint of espresso. A couple of baked goods – a danish here, a croissant there – and an entire punnet of strawberries.
Sunday lunch? I’m not a lunch guy, but I do have a huge… we call it tea. My wife’s French, a terrific cook. The pleasures of the table are close to my heart.
What’s on the menu? She does a great chicken with ratatouille, and a chicken featuring 60 unpeeled cloves of garlic. Sixty! Count them. I like Mediterranean grub. I like a nice ragu, but the sauce must be rich and the base baked on Italian stone.
Sunday evening? There’s never been a better time to own a television set. It’s one irresistible programme after the other, starting with Antiques Road Show. My favourite is The Footage Detectives on Freeview, where people send in Super 8 footage of their lives. You can guess what year it is by the cars and clothes. It’s all people on holiday at British seaside resorts in 1958. It’s a terrific show.
Sundays growing up? Everything was closed, but Higher Broughton in Greater Manchester was a Jewish area, so you could buy fresh baked goods because they weren’t open on the Saturday. The only other places open were movie theatres, and we had eight within walking distance.
Dread Mondays? Monday’s gloomy presence hangs over every Sunday. It is the ruination of Sunday.
John Cooper Clarke’s In Celebration of World Poetry Day tours London, Nottingham and Manchester in March 2025. See livenation.co.uk
The open relationship you and your wife agreed upon has taken a turn that’s destabilising your sense of connection
The question My wife and I have always had a vibrant sex life, often incorporating fantasies about others into our intimacy. This summer, we decided to open our relationship, using dating apps to meet others for casual encounters, which enhanced our sex life. Her first date was exciting and boosted our connection. I also had a few fun dates and we enjoyed sharing the stories. However, her second date became serious fast.
She is now deeply in love with him and they text or call constantly, even when we went away together to the hotel where we were married. Currently, she’s spending part of our holiday with him, staying at his house, planning to call him daily during our upcoming getaway.
Now that half of our clothing purchases are sent back, reverse logistics – or the returns industry – has become big business, with companies finding ways to reduce waste
For many, the Boxing Day sales are a festive tradition, but last week major retailers from Next to John Lewis announced that their stores would stay closed as they expected customers to do their bargain hunting online.
For those who regret their internet purchases – or those who unwrapped yet another hideous Christmas jumper – the prospect of a trip to the post office to send their returns awaits.
The TV personality, chef, musician and author has made her cultural mark, but has faced her fights – racism, violence, grief, poverty as a single mum. How did this nascent national treasure turn trauma into triumph?
There’s a stockpot simmering on Andi Oliver’s stove – for days, the broth has been bubbling. A mugful of the rib-sticking, rich elixir lands in front of me as I’m ushered into her east London kitchen from the cold. She ladles out a flask-full for Garfield, her boyfriend of 30 years, then peers into the saucepan. “I’ve not been well,” says Oliver, “and this has healed me.” She spent the past two months filming in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she always had a similar soup on the go. “It’s giving yourself the care you need. And sharing it with other people doesn’t just fix you, but briefly, the world around you.” Supplies depleted, she begins to rebuild the brew from its bones: pinches of cloves, juniper and star anise are dropped in. A glug of white wine. Taste, then season. No measurements, just instinct. “I started cooking young,” Oliver explains. “To me, it’s everyday magic. Giving you that broth is sharing a little bit of myself – a soul exchange.” Briefly, there’s a moment of serenity.
Scout, the ageing family dog, comes in barking. The phone rings, twice. Unidentified clattering upstairs. Hers is a house that’s lived in. “Just to flag,” Oliver warns, “anyone might just appear. This place is like Piccadilly Circus.” A steady stream of people do wander through. First, Kelly, close colleague and confidante. Garfield next. Then Oliver’s mum pootles through, nonplussed by a stranger’s presence. Soon to turn 88, she moved in a couple of years back. “Oh, and that’s Amanda Mealing,” Oliver says, as the former Holby City star pops her head around the door. “We met doing a play with Paul O’Grady – Lily Savage was one of her son’s godmothers, and I’m the other one.” There might be other houseguests, Oliver can’t be certain.
Littler overcomes slow start to defeat Ian White 4-1
Van Gerwen into last 16 by beating Brendan Dolan 4-2
Luke Littler struggled to hit top form but still did enough to ease into the last 16 of the world championship with a 4-1 win over Ian White at Alexandra Palace. The 17-year-old survived a series of errant doubles and had set darts against him in the first and fourth sets before finding his range when it mattered to sink his veteran opponent.
Littler, who averaged just under 98 for the match, told Sky Sports: “It was tough, Ian threw everything at me and I had to stay switched on. It was just a case of settling into it. I know what’s gone wrong tonight – the doubles – but most importantly, I’ve won.”
Dan Cole try and Handré Pollard conversion seal draw
There may be a grassroots rebellion soon descending on Twickenham, torches and pitchforks in tow, but here was some festive fun before the bonfire begins. Ultimately, it ended honours even – thanks to Dan Cole’s last-gasp try and Handré Pollard’s conversion via a post – and with a slight sense of anticlimax for the sellout crowd. There can be no mistaking they got their money’s worth, however, a nail-biting encounter after a weekend of whitewashes.
This was the third time Leicester were the opponents for this annual festive fixture and remarkably, the two previous clashes, in 2008 and 2019, also ended in draws. All the more astonishing is that it was Cole who scored the try to force the draw. It was no less than Leicester deserved, with Michael Cheika unapologetic his side chose to kick the ball out in the dying seconds rather than push for victory.
A Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people skidded down the runway at Muan International Airport in South Korea on Sunday, December 29, before crashing.
Belgium will ban the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes as of Jan. 1 on health and environmental grounds in a groundbreaking move for European Union nations
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