Desk from Quarry Bank high school had been hidden by staff as teachers had considered Lennon a ‘nuisance’
A desk used by John Lennon has gone on display after being found in the attic of his former school, where teachers had not wanted to remember the musician because he had been a “nuisance”.
Lennon attended Quarry Bank high school in Liverpool between 1952 and 1957, and the name of the Quarrymen, the band that would become the Beatles in their formative years, was inspired by the school’s name.
Increase in violence since 2019 is linked to online campaigns seeking to sow disinformation and fuel hatred
Europeans who do not fit the typical definition of male or female are grappling with an “alarming” rise in violence, the EU’s leading rights agency has said, as concerted campaigns seek to sow disinformation and fuel hatred towards them.
The findings from the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, published on Tuesday, were based on responses from 1,920 people in 30 countries across Europe. All of them identified as intersex, an umbrella term referring to those with innate variations of sex characteristics and which includes people who identify as trans, non-binary and gender diverse.
The Normal People author can no longer safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest, according to a statement read out by her publisher at the prize ceremony
Irish author Sally Rooney could not travel to collect a literary prize this week over concerns that she may be arrested if she enters the UK, given her support of banned group Palestine Action.
Rooney won the Sky Arts award for literature for her fourth novel, Intermezzo. At a ceremony on Tuesday, audiences were told that Rooney “couldn’t be here”, before her editor, Faber publisher Alex Bowler, collected the award on her behalf.
Deal gives Intel a lifeline as firms team up on AI data centers and PC chips after Trump stake sparks market surge
Nvidia, the world’s leading chipmaker, announced plans to invest $5bn in Intel and collaborate with the struggling semiconductor company on products.
One month after the Trump administration confirmed it had taken a 10% stake in Intel – the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America – Nvidia said it would team up with the firm to work on custom data centers that form the backbone of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, as well as personal computer products.
Sea rescue NGO says clips and images provide evidence that smugglers ‘are part of Tripoli’s official military apparatus’
Video footage and photos in the Italian press appear to show for the first time a militia allied with the Libyan government participating in people smuggling in the Mediterranean Sea.
The clips and photographs, shared with the Guardian, were taken by a journalist for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica who had accompanied volunteers on a rescue boat operated by the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans.
UK taxpayers have lost £400m following the collapse of hundreds of startups backed by a heavily criticised Covid-era investment fund launched by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor.
The Future Fund spent £1.14bn backing 1,190 companies, some of them of types not usually associated with government portfolios such as the sex party organiser Killing Kittens and the now defunct festival tickets business Pollen.
In this week’s Feast newsletter: Before I head to Italy for a last hit of summer sunshine, I’m getting into the mood with bucatini by a master and a Sicilian spread that is a true autumn feast
As you read this, I will likely be in the throes of packing my suitcase for a much-needed escape to Italy (Sicily, to be precise). A hit of vitamin D before the summer wardrobe is put away for another year, and I am ready to fully embrace autumn and winter hermit mode. I’ve always felt that September is the perfect time to escape to the Mediterranean for a last-minute injection of sun and, in this instance, to indulge in pasta, gelato and a healthy side of aperitivo. I cannot wait.
Because I have to cook a million meals before I go, I have prepared the family Rachel Roddy’s chicken thighs with cherry tomatoes and a green bean, lettuce and parmesan salad for a meal I know they all will devour. I’ve also made Felicity Cloake’s raspberry panna cotta with the haul we harvested from our local pick-your-own farm, a recipe she confirms also works with overripe or crushed berries that aren’t quite in top shape. There is also a tub of Rachel’s courgette, goat’s cheese and lemon risotto in the fridge, because we nabbed a couple of courgettes at the farm, too. That should keep my household going for a bit.
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Ahead of the release of A House of Dynamite – which could make Bigelow the first woman to win the best director Oscar winner twice – we rate her hits, from Point Break to The Hurt Locker
An old-school coldwar nuclear sub thriller based on a true story from 1961, with Harrison Ford as the icily authoritarian Soviet commander busting out his Ryushhhyan acksyent. Liam Neeson plays his second-in-command, resentful at having this cold fish imposed over his head and yet destined to respect the guy. Some slightly clunky traditional moments for our two leading males, but also a few exciting ones.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion has a prominent position at both Fox and the team he co-owns. It’s getting harder for those two things to exist together
It’s time for Tom Brady to pick. Or better yet, for the NFL to makehim choose.
Brady’s twin roles as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and the lead voice for the NFL on Fox can no longer coexist. The lines are too muddled, the potential for scandal unnecessary.
Cowboys and Indigenous Americans tackle cultural appropriation and the legacy of the old west in a plot that revolves around a stolen Lakota artefact
There is a whiff of grandiosity about this crime drama’s title, hinting at ambitions to say something a little bigger than usual for a movie about cowboys and Indigenous Americans concerning cultural identities and appropriation, the legacy of the old west, and so on. It doesn’t quite lasso the bronco, but the ambitions of writer-director Tony Tost’s yarn are ambitious and interesting, and he has at least assembled a cracking cast to tell it.
Audiences will probably be most excited about the presence of star-billed Sydney Sweeney, here playing Penny Jo, a sweet waitress with a stammer, although Sweeney is very much part of an ensemble that distributes screen time democratically. (The film premiered in 2023 at South by Southwest, but is only coming out now, perhaps because Sweeney has now become a legit phenomenon.) At the New Mexico middle-of-nowhere diner where Penny Jo slings hash, she stumbles on a plot to steal a rare Lakota artefact from a collector (Toby Huss, making the most of a cameo role).
Whiting residents worried after facility, which has had multiple problems, shut down temporarily after rain
It was the biggest news story around the midwest as the Labor Day weekend approached earlier this month: the unexpected surging price of fuel at the gas station.
But for residents of Whiting, Indiana, petroleum has been presenting an altogether bigger problem.
Some 200 events are planned across the US this Sunday to celebrate growth of solar power and energy efficiency
As the Trump administration wages an all-out assault on climate protections and renewable energy, activists are gearing up for demonstrations this Sunday to hype up solar power and energy efficiency.
The national “day of action”, called Sun Day, will be spearheaded by veteran climate activist Bill McKibben.
Is it a white? Or a rosé? Or an orange wine? Explore its versatility
Greek wines get a lot of praise from me, and I’m not going to stop any time soon. This week, the particular drum I’m beating has “moschofilero” written all over it. Yes, mos-ko-FIL-ero, because this is a grape variety to explore if you’re after a new wine that can be had for very competitive prices.
It’s an ancient grape that’s grown predominantly in the Peloponnese and on the Mantinia plateau, where the cool climate and average elevation help this delicate grape ripen. While the wines it makes are united by a steady acid, they can also range from the intensely aromatic to the clean and zesty.
French president and wife allege rightwing influencer Candace Owens is using defamatory attacks against them to boost media profile
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife plan to present scientific evidence to a US court to prove that Brigitte Macron was not born a man, the lawyer representing them in a defamation suit has said.
The couple filed the suit in July against Candace Owens, a rightwing influencer, and her business, alleging continuing defamatory attacks against them in order to boost the profile of her media platform, gain more audience and make money.
(Insanity) Four years ago, the south Londoner’s star was on the rise with her debut Skin – then she vanished. Now, she’s back with shimmering sounds and cleverly unsentimental lyrics, plus explosive cameos by Vince Staples and Kano
In an overcrowded pop market, where artists are encouraged to maintain a constant presence and stream of what’s depressingly termed “product”, south London singer-songwriter Joy Crookes’s career has progressed in a curious series of fits and starts. After releasing a series of EPs, she ended 2019 as a hotly tipped act: appearances on Later … With Jools Holland, nominated for the Brits Rising Star award, placed high in the BBC’s Sound of 2020 poll, invited to support Harry Styles on tour. But the latter was nixed by Covid, and her real commercial breakthrough didn’t arrive for nearly two years: released at the tail-end of 2021, her debut album Skin made the Top 5 and, in Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, spawned one of those long-tail viral hits that achieves a weird omnipresence despite barely grazing the Top 30. She started working on a follow-up, then vanished again. The four years that separate her debut from Juniper were at least partly consumed by a period when she was “really sick” and “mentally unstable”.
It’s a period that understandably hangs over the contents of Juniper: “I’m so sick, I’m so tired, I can’t keep losing my mind,” she sings on opener Brave; “I’m pretty fucking miserable,” runs the blunt chorus of Mathematics, ostensibly a breakup song that seems underpinned by something noticeably darker than romantic woe alone. You could argue that Juniper’s introspective tone comes at a cost – there’s no room for the kind of sharp, political songs about Brexit, gentrification and immigration that peppered Skin – but Crookes is an impressively snappy lyricist who comes across as smart, streetwise and gobby regardless of the personal trauma she’s describing.
The first Channel migrant has been deported to France under the controversial one in, one out deal, the Home Office has confirmed.
It follows three days of cancellations of tickets of asylum seekers due to fly and a high court challenge that halted the imminent removal of a 25-year-old Eritrean man to France on Tuesday evening. He was granted more time to gather evidence relating to his claim that he is a victim of trafficking.
Legislation limits child access and imposes prison terms for damaging use of artificial intelligence
Italy has become the first country in the EU to approve a comprehensive law regulating the use of artificial intelligence, including imposing prison terms on those who use the technology to cause harm, such as generating deepfakes, and limiting child access.
Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government said the legislation, which aligns with the EU’s landmark AI Act, is a decisive move in influencing how AI is used across Italy.
While they do keep finding a way to win, blowing leads and a lack of ruthlessness are not signs of a successful season
The feeling of euphoria that comes with a late winner is addictive, as Liverpool have found out, but it is not a sustainable plan. Virgil van Dijk was the fifth player to settle a match in dramatic fashion in as many games for the Premier League champions this season but his 92nd-minute goal against Atlético Madrid was only the fourth-latest in the team’s series of extraordinary climaxes.
Jan Oblak was left helpless in the Atlético goal after his teammates had staged a glorious fightback from 2-0 down and shown a dogged determination to hold on. It had a familiar ring: Rio Ngumoha downed Newcastle in the 100th minute and Mohamed Salah slammed home a penalty in the 97th to break Burnley hearts, having scored in the 94th minute against Bournemouth to seal that 4-2 victory. The more crushing blow for Bournemouth had been delivered by Federico Chiesa in the 88th minute. A relatively early winner at home to Arsenal came in the 83rd minute. It indicates Liverpool are battle-hardened, fit and mentally strong. It is, however, not viable over what could be a 60-match season.
Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough In our polarised times, this is a generous look at a friendship between an enigmatic young man and a grieving widower
Adrian Prosper is a no-nonsense kind of guy. A retired police officer, he has dealt with enough lowlifes to see the worst in everyone. Played with frightening humourlessness by Stuart Fox, he is all suspicion and mistrust. When his newly bereaved brother-in-law, Gerald (Russell Richardson), is befriended by Daniel (Iskandar Eaton), an enigmatic young man, he thinks only the worst of the relationship.
And he is not alone. In Alan Ayckbourn’s 91st play, he is joined in speculative plotting by Maxine (Liza Goddard), his misanthropic wife, as well as Gerald’s neighbours, the well-meaning Norah (Elizabeth Boag) and the online conspiracist Hugo (Hayden Wood). They are stoked by fear, small-mindedness and tribalism.
A newly discovered painting by Pablo Picasso of the French photographer and painter Dora Maar completed during the German occupation of Paris that has not been seen for 80 years, has been unveiled.
The work, Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar), was finished towards the end of the couple’s turbulent nine-year relationship and shows Maar in a softer, more colourful light than Picasso’s previous portraits of his then lover.
Critics condemn reopening of ‘Camp J’ unit at Angola in service of Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown, noting its history of brutality and violence
There were no hurricanes in the Gulf, as can be typical for Louisiana in late July – but Governor Jeff Landry quietly declared a state of emergency. The Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola – the largest maximum security prison in the country – was out of bed space for “violent offenders” who would be “transferred to its facilities”, he warned in an executive order.
The emergency declaration allowed for the rapid refurbishing of a notorious, shuttered housing unit at Angola formerly known as Camp J – commonly referred to by prisoners as “the dungeon” because it was once used to house men in extended solitary confinement, sometimes for years on end.
Controversial start-up reaches out to British athletes
Olympic swimmer Ben Proud became first Briton to join
British athletes across multiple sports are being targeted by the Enhanced Games after the US sprint star Fred Kerley became the biggest name yet to sign up for the controversial event.
Kerley, the world 100m champion in 2022, said he was joining the Enhanced Games, which allows athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs that are banned in official events, to become the fastest man ever.
Even in comparatively liberal spaces, such as my high school, girls who wince at locker room talk risk exclusion
Since Donald Trump returned to office, I have noticed a phenomenon at my high school that I call the “new chill girl”. A group of kids is talking casually about something. Seemingly out of the blue, one of the boys makes an off-handed joke. Maybe it’s racist or sexist or homophobic, but whatever the poison, they inject it and the group dynamic shifts ever so slightly. As a general rule, the boys continue as usual while the girls – who tend to be more politically progressive – face a choice: they can speak up, which usually results in them getting the reputation as annoying and unable to take a joke, or they can let it pass and be regarded as a chill girl who isn’t angry or woke. Since November 2024, the latter reaction has become far more common.
This kind of fearful silence is becoming more common outside of high schools, too. In December of 2024, Disney removed a transgender character from a new series. This April, the New York Times reported that a new Trump administration regulation bars government employees from adding pronouns to their email bios. Two days after that, Gannet, one of the US’s largest newspaper chains, cited Trump’s opposition to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion when announcing that it would no longer publish statistics on employee diversity.
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