“Celebrating the resurgence of West Ham is a bit premature, chides Eric Peterson. “They’re on a three-game winless streak, with those games against: a sinking Bournemouth, a floundering Manchester United, and an imploding Liverpool. Facing Brighton, which hadn’t lost since October before running into an irresistible Aston Villa, will provide a sterner, and truer, test.”
They’re much better than they were; United battered Brighton; and Villa were not irresistible in midweek. I don’t think West Ham will go down, do you?
Known for acute observations of class system, Parr’s images were often in vivid colour with more than a dash of humour
Martin Parr, the British documentary photographer who captured the peculiarities of the nation with clarity and hilarity, has died aged 73. He had been diagnosed with cancer in May 2021.
A statement from the Martin Parr Foundation on Sunday said: “It is with great sadness that we announce that Martin Parr died yesterday at home in Bristol.
Captain says his dressing room ‘isn’t a place for weak men’
Coach McCullum says England ‘overprepared’
Ben Stokes has admitted that the way England have folded in key moments during the first two Ashes Tests has led him to question the character of his players, and insisted: “A dressing room that I am captain of isn’t a place for weak men.”
After Australia won the second Test in Brisbane by the same eight-wicket margin with which they secured the first, Stokes suggested the telling difference was that the home side had been superior in the “moments in the game where the heat is on and the pressure is really, really cooking” whereas his players “have all been guilty at moments [of] letting the pressure, the occasion, the circumstances, get to us”.
Judiciary says a criminal case has been opened after online images showed a number of unveiled female competitors
Judicial authorities in Iran have arrested two organisers of a marathon held on an island off the country’s southern coast after images emerged showing women taking part in the race without hijabs.
The arrests on Saturday come as the authorities face increasing criticism from ultraconservatives who accuse them of inadequate efforts to enforce a mandatory headscarf law for women amid fears of growing western influence on the Islamic republic.
Last week’s proceedings in murder case of Brian Thompson showed a mix of politics, social comment and drama
The trial of Luigi Mangione is one of the most eagerly awaited cases in recent American criminal history and last week’s court appearances by the accused killer acted as a sort of trailer for the still unscheduled main event.
As a New York court weighed whether evidence was gathered illegally during Mangione’s arrest on charges of fatally shooting a top healthcare executive on the streets of New York, America got a taste of the trial’s potent mix of politics, social comment, conspiracy theory and Hollywood-style murder drama.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, now 47, is fighting extradition from the UK amid accusations he set off three pipe bombs in 2003
Twenty-two years ago, a dark-haired, bespectacled young man vanished off the streets of San Francisco. Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 25-year-old information technology specialist, diehard vegan and animal rights activist, was the FBI’s main suspect in a series of pipe bombings that exploded in front of the headquarters of Chiron Corporation and Shaklee Corporation, two Bay Area companies, in August and September of 2003.
Communiques attributed to the Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade were posted to the website of an animal rights magazine, claiming the attacks were carried out to highlight both firms’ alleged work with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a British research company that conducted tests for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other chemical companies and had drawn the ire of activists on both sides of the Atlantic opposing its tests on animals.
The pistachio-crammed craze makes a superb gift. Our in-house perfectionist tries all the fiddly bits for you …
If you’re asking what on earth chocolate has to do with a city with an average annual temperature of 28C, then you must have been stuck in the desert for the past three years. Because, since its creation in the UAE in 2022, apparently to satisfy chocolatier Sarah Hamouda’s pregnancy cravings for pistachio and pastry, this bar has taken over the world. Though food (among those with the luxury of choice, at least) has never been immune to the absurdities of fashion, the internet has supercharged and globalised the process, so much so that pistachios, which back in January were dubbed “the new pumpkin spice” by this very newspaper, are now everywhere, from Starbucks lattes to Aldi mince pies.
The thing is, however, that whatever your thoughts on green, sugary, coffee-adjacent beverages, Hamouda’s Dubai chocolate developed for Fix Dessert Chocolatier has triumphed, because it really does taste as good as it looks: crunchy pastry, sweet chocolate and rich, slightly savoury nut butter are an incredibly satisfying combination, so a big bar of it is guaranteed to impress under the Christmas tree. Experience demands that I suggest you wrap it in a pet-proof box, however – emergency vet bills are no one’s idea of a great present.
It also left Versace’s former parent company, Capri Holdings, with an even greater focus on Michael Kors, the 44-year-old brand know as America’s Armani that made up about 70% of sales in its last financial year.
Authorities say strain of virus that has killed wild boars in Catalonia is one often used for experiments in secure facilities
Spanish authorities investigating the African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are looking into the possibility that the disease may have leaked from a research facility and are focusing on five nearby laboratories as potential sources.
Thirteen cases of the fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the countryside outside Barcelona since 28 November, prompting Spain to scramble to contain the outbreak before it becomes a serious threat to its pork export industry, which is worth €8.8bn (£7.7bn) a year.
Actor speaks out over controversy around American Eagle advert in the summer that critics say flirted with eugenics
The actor Sydney Sweeney has said she should have addressed the controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans advert, which was accused by critics of flirting with eugenics, saying not doing so “widened the divide” between people.
Sweeney, who made her name in HBO’s Euphoria and has since become a leading Hollywood star, told People magazine she regretted staying silent during the row, in which Donald Trump at one point intervened.
Keir Starmer has predicted that Angela Rayner will return to the cabinet, calling his former deputy, who resigned in September after underpaying stamp duty on a property purchase, “hugely talented”.
In an interview with the Observer, the prime minister described Rayner, who left school aged 16 without any qualifications, as “the best social mobility story this country has ever seen”.
National guard shooting prompts extraordinary outburst and targeting of people from startling range of countries
When the history of Donald Trump’s second presidency is written, 26 November 2025 may well go down as a particular landmark.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, a lone gunman shot two West Virginia national guards, Sarah Beckstrom, and Andrew Wolfe, as they were on patrol outside Washington DC’s Farragut West metro station, a short walk from the White House – and thereby opened the floodgates to a wave of racist and anti-immigrant invective that seemed extreme even for Trump.
The movement’s success was never a given. It took much longer and required repeated action and tremendous sacrifice, without any certainty it would work
The Montgomery bus boycott, which began 70 years ago on 5 December 1955, is now understood as one of the most successful American social movements. And yet, much of how it is remembered is romanticized, inaccurate and even dangerous – distorting how we imagine social change happens.
In the fable, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat, Black Montgomery residents rise up, a young Martin Luther King Jr is introduced to the world, and injustice is vanquished. The right action is all it takes – furthering a mythology that, without deep preparation or sacrifice, Americans can make great change with a single act. Today, in the face of rising injustice, many criticize young activists for being too disruptive, too disorganized, too impractical. But, in fact, the Montgomery movement began much earlier and took much longer than we imagine and entailed tremendous sacrifice. It required hard choice after hard choice without evidence these actions would matter, and was considered too disruptive by many at the time – all of which gives us important lessons for how to challenge injustice today.
Jeanne Theoharis is a distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the author of King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr’s Life of Struggle Outside the South and The Rebellious Life of Mrs Rosa Parks.
This year’s most-wanted ornaments include weight-loss syringes and favourite foodstuffs. When and why did Christmas trees become so commercialised?
it was the second Tuesday in November but Christmas was already in crisis. Sarah Gibbons had just received a shipment of baubles at her Glasgow homeware shop, Modern Love Store, and some crucial ornaments were missing. She hopped on a long-distance phone call to her suppliers in the US – she needed to sort this out. After all, her customers were clamouring for them. “People aren’t just buying one,” the 39-year-old shopkeeper told me after discovering the missing decorations, “they’re buying three or four at a time.” Three what? Turtle doves? Nutcrackers? Or perhaps some classic candy canes? Of course not. This year’s must-have bauble is in the shape of a lightly glittered syringe of Ozempic.
Growing up, my favourite Christmas ornament was a little pink plastic baby Jesus resting in a manger. He was bought by my great-aunt in Oberammergau, Germany, in 1990 – and although his battery hasn’t been changed since, you can still press his belly to hear Silent Night play. Today, decorations are a little different. Ozempic isn’t the only needle hanging from our needles: Britons can also purchase Christmas tree ornaments shaped like syringes of Botox and filler. Meanwhile, Selfridges is selling a dirty martini bauble, M&S is peddling a hanging prawn cocktail and Aldi is offering an ornament shaped like an air fryer. Move over, baby Jesus; glass has now been blown into the likeness of Harry Styles, Taylor Swift and The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White.
Mark Carney is considering lifting a tanker ban that has protected coastal communities for 53 years
The distress call went out to the Canadian coast guard station after midnight on an October night. The Nathan E Stewart, an American-flagged tugboat, sailing through the light winds and rain of the central British Columbia coast, had grounded on a reef.
The captain tried to reverse, moving the rudder from hard over port to hard over starboard. The boat pivoted but did not move, and the tug repeatedly struck the sea bed.
Kishwer Falkner says Reform leader should apologise to people who say he targeted them at school, even if he rejects being deliberately racist
Nigel Farage should offer an unreserved apology to people who allege he targeted them with racist or antisemitic behaviour while at school, the outgoing head of the government’s equalities watchdog has said.
Kishwer Falkner, a crossbench peer who has just completed five years as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said that even if the Reform UK leader rejected the allegation that he had been deliberately racist, he could nonetheless apologise to people who said they had been deeply hurt by his actions.
Olympic triathlon champion runs 2:06:38 in Valencia
The only faster time by a Briton is Farah’s 2:05:11 in 2018
Alex Yee, the Olympic triathlon champion, has become the second-fastest British marathon runner in history with a stunning run in Valencia. The 27-year-old finished seventh in a strong field in a time of 2hr 6min 38sec, quicker than any Briton in history apart from Mo Farah, who ran 2:05:11 in Chicago in 2018.
It was a remarkable performance, especially given Yee took up the marathon only this year as a mini-sabbatical from triathlon after he won gold in Paris. As Yee crossed the line he roared to the skies before placing his hands to his head, in disbelief at the time he had just achieved.
Producer says creatives need to own their intellectual property so they can license it to generative AI platforms
The Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart has said artificial intelligence is an “unstoppable force”, and musicians and other artists should bow to the inevitable and license their music to generative AI platforms.
These platforms use artificial intelligence to analyse existing songs and tracks, using that knowledge to generate completely new ones as prompted by a user. For example, someone could ask the AI platform to generate a song about a boozy night out in the style of a Britpop band, and it would draw on songs with similar sounds and themes to create its own.
Leicester v Man City, Spurs v Villa and London City v Brighton all get off and running. Let’s do this thing.
“We’ve made this a fortress over the past few years,” Leicester boss Rick Passmoor tells Sky Sports before kick-off. “We know the fans here will back us and make a noise.
Sultana says Labour party has ‘left the scene’ as she says she ‘gets on really well’ with Greens’ Polanski
Rounding up his interview, Trevor Phillips asked Helen Whately about the Guardian’s investigation into Nigel Farage’s alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour as a teenager towards fellow Dulwich college pupils. She suggested that the Reform leader appears not to be giving “straight answers” when asked about his past behaviour, and ruled out any pact with Farage’s party at the next general election.
“He needs to give people a straight answer,” Whately said.
The number one reason why people, young people, are becoming Neet – not in employment, education or training – is because they’re moving on to sickness benefits.
Yet we just saw a few months ago where Labour was attempting to make some reforms to this problem (people going on to sickness benefits). They u-turned, they abandoned their reforms.
Connexion
