Yes, ‘corridor care’ horrors persist, yet statistics show my timely, efficient treatment wasn’t a matter of fortune but quite ordinary

It was a bad start to the new year. Slipping on ice, I fell and broke my right wrist, so now I can’t hold a pen with my writing hand. But my experience of the NHS was a good reminder of a few facts.

Heading to the nearest A&E, I expected one of those 12-hour waits and corridors lined with trolleys of the near-dead, rowdy with drunken and psychotic mayhem. The Guardian recently found that violent incidents recorded by 212 NHS trusts in England rose from 91,175 in 2022-23 to 104,079 in 2024-25, the equivalent of about 285 cases reported every day. So I was ready for whatever. Notices warned that there would be zero tolerance of abuse of staff.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Eleanor Shakespeare/The Guardian

© Illustration: Eleanor Shakespeare/The Guardian

© Illustration: Eleanor Shakespeare/The Guardian

Dear Abby advises a woman who is about to retire and is having anxiety over not knowing what to do with her time.

The casting comes more than two years after Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light sparked a nationwide boycott and a steep decline in sales for the beer brand.

Nets rookie Nolan Traore logged a career-high 27:57 in Friday’s 112-109 win over Chicago. He got the nod down the stretch over lottery pick Egor Dëmin.

My jaw was left agape by this rich, moving spinoff. Its two lead characters have the making of a classic comic double act

The Game of Thrones franchise has fruited again, like an abundant oak. Where’s left to go? A startling opening, in which a lumbering oaf takes a dump behind a tree, gives us a clue. Chronologically, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Monday 19 January, 9pm, Sky Atlantic) sits between the juggernaut original and its courtly prequel, House of the Dragon. Tonally, it’s in a world of its own.

That oaf eventually gets a name: Dunk. Contrary to expectation, Dunk is a knight. Specifically, a “hedge knight”, a lower-status category whose kind cannot afford their keep and must sleep under trees. “Any knight can make a knight” we are reminded, by simply dubbing them. This lack of gatekeeping has resulted in a class system in which highborn valiants scorn their ignoble brethren. They are knights in name only, and only just. Of course, there’s nothing just about this.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: HBO/2025 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

© Photograph: HBO/2025 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

© Photograph: HBO/2025 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

Being able to understand the comedian talking in French in his Dress to Kill show led to me learning several languages and working on the continent

Until the age of 13, I had never taken much interest in school French lessons. I had visited the country a couple of times, on family driving holidays to Brittany and Normandy, but my parents did all the talking and I didn’t see the point of learning le and la, soixante-dix or quatre-vingts. It was just something on the curriculum that I had to do.

Then, one evening at home, in Stirlingshire, Scotland, with everyone else in bed, I sat on the sofa and put on a VHS of Eddie Izzard’s standup show Dress to Kill. My parents were fans and I’d caught a glimpse on TV and thought it looked funny. I was young and some of the material was probably too rude but I enjoyed the surreal and absurd comedy, impressions and mad tangents.

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Martin O'Neill

© Illustration: Martin O'Neill

© Illustration: Martin O'Neill

From Clarissa Strozzi and Charles V to Tom Parker and Walt Disney, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 What did LA plumber George Holliday videotape on 3 March 1991?
2 Named after a Greek god, what is Earth’s largest land biome?
3 Abigail, in November 2015, was the first what?
4 Which literary character says, “Come not, Lucifer! I’ll burn my books!”?
5 Which Play School presenter sits in the House of Lords?
6 What cricket fixture was played from 1806 until 1962?
7 Which rescue organisation is based in Poole, Dorset?
8 The Kanneh-Mason siblings are famous names in what field?
What links:
9 Babington; Parry; Ridolfi; Throckmorton?
10 Bleu; saignant; à point; bien cuit?
11 Basilisk lizard; fishing spider; jacana; pond skater; Clark’s grebe?
12 Virginia (8); Ohio (7); New York (5); Arkansas, California, Hawaii (one each)?
13 Enhanced Fujita; Modified Mercalli; Saffir-Simpson; Torino?
14 Ben Bradlee; Walt Disney; Jim Lovell; Colonel Tom Parker; Chesley Sullenberger?
15 Clarissa Strozzi; Charles V with a dog; Philip II; Pope Paul III and his grandsons?

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Viorika/Getty Images

© Photograph: Viorika/Getty Images

© Photograph: Viorika/Getty Images

In historic speech to mark UN’s 80th anniversary, secretary general makes impassioned plea for multilateralism and international law amid drastic US funding cuts

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, will warn on Saturday of the peril posed by “powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation” in an address to mark the 80th anniversary of the UN’s first major meeting.

Speaking in London’s Methodist Central Hall – the site where eight decades earlier delegates from 51 countries came together for the inaugural session of the general assembly – the UN head will make an impassioned plea for the virtues of multilateralism and international law to prevail during a period of deepening global uncertainty.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Manon Cruz/Reuters

© Photograph: Manon Cruz/Reuters

© Photograph: Manon Cruz/Reuters

"It was an all-or-nothing idea."

As international treaty comes into force, bill to make it law in Britain is moving at ‘glacial pace’ through parliament

The UK risks being shut out of a historic oceans summit because parliament has failed to ratify the UN’s high seas treaty, environmental charities and campaigners have warned.

The high seas treaty, formally known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, comes into force on Saturday, after two decades of talks.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Laura Lewis/Greenpeace

© Photograph: Laura Lewis/Greenpeace

© Photograph: Laura Lewis/Greenpeace

A warming, scoop-it-up tomato and egg dish a bit like shakshuka, but the zippy lemony yoghurt and harissa give away its Turkish roots

I am not the type of person to say, “These eggs will change your life”, but these eggs changed my life, so they may also make a sizeable dent in yours. The recipe is based on (but not authentic to) the Turkish dish menemen. There is much to love about these eggs, not least how magnificently delicious they are and how fun it is to scoop them up with hot flatbread. On a practical note, meanwhile, they can be eaten at any mealtime and, if not finished, reheated later. Which, if you love eggs and leftovers as much as I do, is a (small) dream come true.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Kitty Coles

© Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Kitty Coles

© Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Kitty Coles

Bruised and tainted by his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the Labour peer still has admirers – and the drive to go again

The BBC’s interview with Peter Mandelson had offered ample evidence of the Labour peer’s “formidable political brain”, according to Louis Mosley, UK head of the US data firm, Palantir Technologies.

An indefensible error of judgment had been made by Mandelson, Mosley said in a panel discussion with Laura Kuenssberg after the airing of some of the 30-minute interview on her Sunday morning political show, but “he is a masterful interpreter of Trump and we now live in a world where that man will determine much of what happens, and we need people who can be that translation function”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

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

Continue reading...

© Composite: Sabrina Lantos/Sphere Abacus/Sky

© Composite: Sabrina Lantos/Sphere Abacus/Sky

© Composite: Sabrina Lantos/Sphere Abacus/Sky

Repairing the cistern has not only given me hope for the year ahead, it has changed our lives …

At the beginning of the month my wife and I had our traditional dispute about the official start date of Dry January.

“January 1st is a public holiday,” I said, as she watched me open a beer. “It doesn’t count.”

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Selman Hosgor/The Guardian

© Illustration: Selman Hosgor/The Guardian

© Illustration: Selman Hosgor/The Guardian

How would you feel if your therapist’s notes – your darkest thoughts and deepest feelings – were exposed to the world? For 33,000 Finnish people, that became a terrifying reality, with deadly consequences

Tiina Parikka was half-naked when she read the email. It was a Saturday in late October 2020, and Parikka had spent the morning sorting out plans for distance learning after a Covid outbreak at the school where she was headteacher. She had taken a sauna at her flat in Vantaa, just outside Finland’s capital, Helsinki, and when she came into her bedroom to get dressed, she idly checked her phone. There was a message that began with Parikka’s name and her social security number – the unique code used to identify Finnish people when they access healthcare, education and banking. “I knew then that this is not a game,” she says.

The email was in Finnish. It was jarringly polite. “We are contacting you because you have used Vastaamo’s therapy and/or psychiatric services,” it read. “Unfortunately, we have to ask you to pay to keep your personal information safe.” The sender demanded €200 in bitcoin within 24 hours, otherwise the price would go up to €500 within 48 hours. “If we still do not receive our money after this, your information will be published for everyone to see, including your name, address, phone number, social security number and detailed records containing transcripts of your conversations with Vastaamo’s therapists or psychiatrists.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Juuso Westerlund

© Photograph: Juuso Westerlund

© Photograph: Juuso Westerlund

While voters in Jenrick’s Newark constituency were mixed on the decision, members of the local Conservatives felt betrayed

For Sam Smith, Thursday began as an ordinary day. The Conservative councillor was preparing for a budget scrutiny meeting at the Reform-led Nottinghamshire county council hall, where he is leader of the opposition, when he received a message from long-time friend Robert Jenrick.

The MP’s message to the Newark Conservative Association’s group chat queried what local pubs they could visit to oppose Labour’s hike on business rates.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Supplied

© Photograph: Supplied

© Photograph: Supplied

Jenny (left), 27, a gallery assistant, meets Sara, 29, a researcher

Continue reading...

© Composite: Fabio De Paola & Martin Godwin

© Composite: Fabio De Paola & Martin Godwin

© Composite: Fabio De Paola & Martin Godwin

From Greenland’s prime minister to Timothée Chalamet, the anorak signals a shift from aspiration to realism

Power dressing usually comes in the form of a suit or a wide-shouldered wool coat. But right now, things look a little different. This week, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, appeared at a joint press conference with Denmark’s leader to say that he had no intention of acquiescing to Donald Trump’s stated desire to “own” Greenland – all while wearing a glacial-blue windbreaker.

It is a garment Nielsen wears regularly but, in this shifting geopolitical moment, it took on a new, loaded and striking messaging.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sebastian Elias Uth/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sebastian Elias Uth/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sebastian Elias Uth/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

Conservatives will come to see a unified continent as the only defence against America and China

Anders Fogh Rasmussen says US president is using island as a ‘weapon of mass distraction’ from real threats such as Russia’s war in Ukraine

UK digital bank due to give current chief executive broader than expected remit when he steps down next month

How isolation, intransigence and desperate economic hardship provoked an upsurge of protest that brought the regime to the brink

Former Conservative Party MP’s move rocks constituents and colleagues

Food critic comes under fire after suggesting health and safety rules ‘don’t really apply’ to elite restaurants

According to a critic who has eaten at every three-star Michelin restaurant in the world, Gareth Ward, the star chef and owner of Ynyshir, on the southern edge of Eryri national park, is a groundbreaking visionary.

“He knows which rules to break and when,” Andy Hayler wrote. “He’s like Picasso; if you look at his early still lifes, they’re unbelievably perfect.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Copyright Great British Chefs

© Photograph: Copyright Great British Chefs

© Photograph: Copyright Great British Chefs