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Exclusive: Imran Patel, who resigned last year after reports about his conduct, is being investigated by the IOPC
A former Metropolitan police officer allegedly used sex workers while on duty in the midst of a major investigation into behavioural standards, the Guardian can reveal.
Britain’s largest police force has been described as “institutionally misogynistic” after widespread claims that a “toxic” sexist culture has been allowed to thrive for decades.
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© Photograph: Radharc Images/Alamy
© Photograph: Radharc Images/Alamy
© Photograph: Radharc Images/Alamy
Popularity of Britain’s top mouser – ‘the guy to meet in No 10’ – to feature in documentary series
He’s seen six prime ministers come and go, watched presidents and princes walk through the black door of No 10, and will soon become the longest continuous resident of Downing Street since Pitt the Younger.
The landscape of British politics has changed a lot in the past 15 years, but Larry the cat has remained a reassuring constant. Now his enduring popularity – the like of which some of his temporary owners would kill for – is to feature in a new Channel 4 documentary series exploring Britain’s love of cats. For his fans, the spotlight has been a long time coming.
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© Photograph: Ben Stansall/PA
© Photograph: Ben Stansall/PA
© Photograph: Ben Stansall/PA
Lola Petticrew and Tom Cullen’s chemistry in this tale of secret passion during the Troubles will floor you. But it is Anderson as a sour, ragey alcoholic who truly mesmerises
It’s cliché to compare a love story to Romeo and Juliet. It’s like saying a detective reminds you of Sherlock Holmes. Yet it’s hard to avoid, watching Channel 4’s drama set in 1970s Northern Ireland. Trespasses follows Cushla Laverty, a 24-year-old Catholic teacher who falls for a swashbuckling Protestant, Michael Agnew. They begin seeing each other secretly, around Michael’s high profile establishment job: he’s an outspoken barrister, who campaigns for justice on behalf of young Catholic boys caught up in police bullying. This puts him, and those close to him, at risk of violent reprisal from both sides. Puts your commute into perspective, eh?
There’s much to admire. The show’s vintage palette for one, dripping with melancholy browns and orange. Was it perpetually autumn in the 70s? Michael and Cushla, played by Tom Cullen and Lola Petticrew from Say Nothing, have chemistry. And then there’s Gillian Anderson, who plays Cushla’s widowed mother, Gina. She steals so many scenes I wonder if she’s been hanging around the Louvre.
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© Photograph: Peter Marley/Channel 4
© Photograph: Peter Marley/Channel 4
© Photograph: Peter Marley/Channel 4
Forget sightseeing, secondhand shopping is now a major draw for tourists. A seasoned bargain-hunter shares her tips on picking up the best vintage finds when travelling abroad
Marburg, Germany. It’s a fairytale city, not only because of the hilltop castle that overlooks its cobbled streets and half-timbered houses, but also because this is where the Grimm brothers once lived and studied, starting the collection of folklore stories that would eventually become their famous anthology of fairytales. Throughout the city, sculptures – some perched in improbable places – pay homage to this past, forming a mile-long route known as the Grimm Path. It’s very much like a treasure hunt.
But on my visit to Marburg, I had a different type of treasure hunt in mind and, once done with enchanted mirrors and kissy-lipped frogs, headed straight for the SecondHand by DRK (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz – the German Red Cross) to scout for pre-owned items.
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© Photograph: MarioGuti/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: MarioGuti/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: MarioGuti/Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Dude’s relaxed attitude towards the pressures of life helped me realise it was better to be jobless than stuck in one I hated
Quitting your job in your 30s with no solid plan is generally considered poor decision-making. Doing it because you watched The Big Lebowski is probably even worse. But as I faced up to what would be my eighth year in an IT role, I watched Jeff Bridges meandering his way through the chaos of life in a dressing gown. And I found myself thinking: maybe the Dude had it figured out.
For most of my working life, my identity has been strongly bolstered by work: doing well career-wise felt like evidence of my utility and respectability (despite the fact no one ever really understood what my job was anyway). And, like most millennials, I’d felt exceptionally lucky to eventually get a grad job out of university at all, especially one that paid more than a “living wage”. On top of that, as a second generation immigrant, I’d been repeatedly told from a young age that being jobless is a terrible state of affairs.
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© Illustration: Martin O'Neill/The Guardian
© Illustration: Martin O'Neill/The Guardian
© Illustration: Martin O'Neill/The Guardian
From a Celtic shield and a horned helmet to baloney, magenta and tarantula, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 Who travelled in search of “the hooly blisful martir”?
2 In what combat sport are competitors divided into east and west?
3 Which force is based in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône?
4 In hospitals, the Bristol scale is used to classify what?
5 Which English rugby player has been immortalised as a Barbie doll?
6 What begins at Theresienwiese on the first Saturday after 15 September?
7 The River Irwell separates which two cities?
8 Which band played with red flowerpots on their heads?
What links:
9 Arctic; Blanford’s; corsac; fennec; red; Rüppell’s; Tibetan sand?
10 I (-); II (Caroline); III (Charlotte); IV (Caroline); V (Mary); VI (Elizabeth)?
11 Baloney; jeans; magenta; sardine; tarantula?
12 ABC; Associated-Rediffusion; ATV; Granada?
13 Aphrodite (doves); Freya (cats); Hera (peacocks); Thor (goats)?
14 Celtic shield and horned helmet; bust of Hadrian; Saxon sword; Zulu spearhead?
15 WEB Du Bois; Langston Hughes; Zora Neale Hurston; Augusta Savage?
© Photograph: Science History Images/Alamy
© Photograph: Science History Images/Alamy
© Photograph: Science History Images/Alamy
Freight company cites ‘abundance of caution’ and manufacturer’s recommendation after 13 died when wing caught fire and engine fell off
The freight company UPS has grounded its fleet of MD-11 aircraft days after a cargo plane crash that killed at least 13 people in Kentucky.
The grounded MD-11s are the same type of plane involved in Tuesday’s crash in Louisville. They were originally built by McDonnell Douglas until it was taken over by Boeing.
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© Photograph: Jon Cherry/AP
© Photograph: Jon Cherry/AP
© Photograph: Jon Cherry/AP
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households
Rachel Reeves has been told that cutting funding for home insulation at the budget would risk the UK’s climate goals and hurt low-income households in a joint intervention by energy firms, fuel poverty charities and environmental groups.
In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies urged Reeves not to take such a damaging “short-term fix” to slash funding for more energy-efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bills.
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© Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer
© Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer
© Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer
Government and water companies are devising emergency plans for worst water shortage in decades
Water companies and the government are drawing up emergency plans for a drought next year more extreme than we have seen in decades.
Executives at one major water company told the Guardian they were extremely concerned about the prospect of a winter with lower than average rainfall, which the Met Office’s long-term forecast says is likely. They said if this happened, the water shortfall would mean taking drastic water use curtailment measures “going beyond hosepipe bans”.
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© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA
© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA
© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA
Cut corners, but not flavour, with this updated take on a hearty, vegan-friendly curry
A confession: I have already written a recipe for massaman curry. But since that was published in 2018, I have had a baby, a breakdown, travelled back to Thailand and eaten more massaman curries, all events that have contributed to this new recipe. The old dish is delicious, but in 2025 I didn’t want to make a paste from scratch. Instead, I wanted the funk and soul that a ready-made curry paste could give me and to use that as a springboard to fly into dinner time. A shortcut on time and ingredients, yes, but not on fun and flavour.
Join Meera Sodha at a special event celebrating the best of Guardian culture on Wednesday 26 November, hosted by Nish Kumar and alongside writers Stuart Heritage and Tim Dowling, with Georgina Lawton hosting You Be The Judge live. Live in London or via livestream, book tickets here.
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© Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Eden Owen-Jones.
© Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Eden Owen-Jones.
© Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Eden Owen-Jones.
Will, 33, a government officer (left), meets Fred, 29, a business analyst
What were you hoping for?
To have a fun Saturday night with someone kind and easygoing.
© Composite: Jill Mead & Martin Godwin
© Composite: Jill Mead & Martin Godwin
© Composite: Jill Mead & Martin Godwin
On tour with the band there were no snapping tortoises, no dog kerfuffles and certainly no peeping scaffolders
It is early morning, the low sun is glinting off wet tarmac. I’m in a coffee shop next to a petrol station, across the car park from the Travelodge where I spent the night, somewhere just north of Brighton. The middle leg of the band’s autumn tour is complete, and I’m on my way home. But first I want coffee.
“Can I take a name?” says the woman behind the counter.
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© Illustration: Selman Hosgor/The Guardian
© Illustration: Selman Hosgor/The Guardian
© Illustration: Selman Hosgor/The Guardian
Modern research shows the public work together selflessly in an emergency, motivated by a strong impulse to help
It was early morning on 1 January last year when Colin McGarva dived into a flooding river in Worcester to rescue an unconscious woman. McGarva said he didn’t think twice about the risk to himself, or the devastating loss his newborn son would suffer had he too been swept away by the fast-flowing icy waters.
“I didn’t stop to think because the instinct – the instant reaction – is to help someone in need,” he said. “Someone’s life is an important thing. Helping is just something you have to do.”
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© Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
© Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
© Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
It starts with singing, banter or enthusiastic goal celebrations – and leads to so much more. Six groups of fan friends share how they met
Like so many football fans, I have my own routines and rituals with which I tie together the home games of a league season. Last year, one such routine involved the older gentleman in the seat to my right. I’d nod hello and, above the strains of pre-match music, ask him what he thought of Norwich’s chances – 23 times I asked, and 23 times he replied along the lines of: “We’ll probably get thumped” or “I don’t see where our goals are coming from.” A shred of contempt would be spared for the referee. Always, the referee was known to him and, always, I’d be forewarned that this or that referee was an “arsehole”, a “wanker”, or – once – “an arsehole and a wanker”.
This neighbour of mine was a retired engineer, a Norfolk boy, and a follower of both first team and academy, home and away. He was just one of thousands with a season ticket at the back of Carrow Road’s lower Barclay stand: a Saturday afternoon companion, a stranger at the start of the last season who became a little less strange as the matches went by. I was able to glean, for example, that after decades of loyal (if pessimistic) fandom, he would soon be moving to Yorkshire with his partner, unable to ignore his dreams of the Dales. He had already decided that he wouldn’t be renewing his season ticket. My first year in this part of the ground was his last.
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© Photograph: Fabio De Paola/07971972977
© Photograph: Fabio De Paola/07971972977
© Photograph: Fabio De Paola/07971972977
After Claudia Sheinbaum was assaulted this week, her opponents claimed she staged it. From their own experiences, the women I met know she didn’t have to
“Machismo in Mexico is so fucked up not even the president is safe,” said Caterina Camastra, a professor and feminist, when I talked to her in Morelia, a city west of the Mexican capital this week. Succinct and to the point, it is a sentiment shared by many women in Mexico after watching the now viral video of a drunk man groping the country’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, as she walked from the National Palace to the education ministry on Monday. Sheinbaum, who has pressed charges against the man, said much the same at her daily press briefing on Wednesday: “If they do this to the president, what happens to all the other women in the country?”
Sheinbaum’s unprecedented position has made this a teaching moment in a country where women have long complained that sexual harassment and assault on streets and public transport were too often normalised and not taken seriously. The leftist Sheinbaum’s political opponents on the right have done just that by claiming her sexual assault was staged to distract from the assassination of a local mayor, Carlos Manzo, an outspoken critic of organised crime who had called on the government to do more to protect him and others. Most women here, on the other hand, know that sexual violence does not have to be set up – half of them have experienced it at some point in their lives.
Mona Eltahawy writes the Feminist Giant newsletter. She is the author of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls and Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution
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© Photograph: Gabriel Monroy/Mexican President/Planet Pix/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Gabriel Monroy/Mexican President/Planet Pix/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Gabriel Monroy/Mexican President/Planet Pix/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Host uses Indigenous concepts and changes agenda to help delegates agree on ways to meet existing climate goals
Shipping containers, cruise ships, river boats, schools and even army barracks have been pressed into service as accommodation for the 50,000 plus people descending on the Amazon: this year’s Cop30 climate summit is going to be, in many ways, an unconventional one.
Located in Belém, a small city at the mouth of the Amazon river, the Brazilian hosts have been criticised for the exorbitant cost of scarce hotel rooms and hastily vacated apartments. Many delegations have slimmed down their presence, while business leaders have decamped to hold their own events in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
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© Photograph: Tita Barros/Reuters
© Photograph: Tita Barros/Reuters
© Photograph: Tita Barros/Reuters
© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian
© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian
© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian
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