In films such as The War Game, Culloden and Punishment Park, Watkins pioneered the mock-documentary form and used it to make his historical dramas and up-to-the-minute dystopias all equally immediate and real

• Peter Watkins, Oscar-winning director of The War Game, dies aged 90
• Peter Watkins obituary

Dystopian, post-apocalyptic, mockumentary: these are common, even hackneyed genres in today’s movies and television. But when film-maker Peter Watkins deployed them in the 1960s, they were revolutionary, and Watkins himself was revolutionary as well – an English revolutionary, in fact, alive to the cruelty and iniquity of kings but also to that of people bent on decapitation. His cinema persistently asked questions about those in power, and what will happen when their power goes catastrophically wrong. An artist dedicated to challenging and upsetting, Watkins came from the dissenter tradition of uncompromising radicalism on screen and stage – the same tradition as Edward Bond, Ken Loach and Dennis Potter.

His enduringly brilliant and angry anti-nuclear drama The War Game was commissioned but then banned by the BBC in 1965. (It screened in cinemas, and was finally shown on television a couple of decades later.) It lasts just 47 minutes but viewers felt they had lived through a lifetime of fear. When I first saw it as a teenager at a CND meeting 15 years after it was made, it seemed as if I had entered a new era of disillusioned adulthood.

There’s a clarity about Mamdani’s message that stands in sharp contrast to most Democratic politicians

For someone who exudes positive energy and seldom stops smiling, Zohran Mamdani certainly does provoke a lot of negative reactions.

“He’s not who you think he is,” one TV ad glowered over gloomy images of the 34-year-old state assemblymember who is the clear frontrunner for New York City mayor. The ad doesn’t make clear precisely what the supposed disconnect is, but the tagline clearly is meant to give voters pause.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist covering US media, politics and culture.

What starts as a compelling satire of the film industry turns into an unconvincing schlocky mess that even Fred Melamed can’t save

Not a bad idea for a Hollywood satire here – and there’s a cameo for renowned character turn Fred Melamed, whose appearance does however have the effect of exposing how callow everyone else is on screen. Much as I wanted to like this lo-fi production, which cheekily intersperses its modestly budgeted scenes with stock footage establishing shots of the city skyline, the movie kept slipping gears and – scene-by-scene – felt awkward and uncertainly performed, along with some audio issues on the soundtrack.

The setting is Los Angeles, and Dev (Matthew Sato) is a young wannabe screenwriter humiliatingly fired from his job as an executive’s assistant for hawking his script to his employer’s competitors, and his need to break into the biz becomes increasingly desperate. To the dismay of his longsuffering girlfriend Monica (Olivia Rouyre), Dev tries one last roll of the dice: he befriends Trip (Will Sennett), the rich screwup son of film producer Scott Lefkowitz (Melamed) – a big-hitter who is known for his ability to greenlight projects with a single phone call.

Exams, dating, parenting … whatever life throws our way, there will be uncertainty and surprises. The sooner we accept that, the happier we will be

If we want to build a better life, we have to be able to not know. Does that sound confusing? Perhaps you don’t know what I’m talking about? Good! That’s great practice.

If you cannot tolerate not knowing, you run the risk of arranging your life so you can know everything (or at least try to), and you may end up sapping your existence of any spontaneity and joy. You don’t ever have the experience of exploring a new place and discovering something exciting, because you’ve already Googled it. And you don’t give a new relationship a chance to develop because you’ve already written that person off. You plan the life out of your life, and your only enjoyment comes from things working out exactly as you knew they would.

When my son was growing up, his school recorder was the bane of my life. Now it’s what I reach for at the end of a hard day, rather than a glass of wine

I’m like a coiled spring after work. Shoulders tense, breath fast and shallow. Usually the sound of my laptop lid slamming shut would be followed by the squeak of a cork pulled from a bottle of red, the wine hastily sploshed into a glass, that first mouthful putting a much-needed full stop on the working day.

Then, a few months ago, I came across my now-adult son’s old school recorder in the attic. I idly blew into it, immediately transported back to the days it was the bane of my life – his daily practice a violent assault on my eardrums, the piercing shriek still reverberating through my head hours after he had gone to bed.

Mazón faced daily calls for his resignation after flooding in October 2024 killed 229 people

Following Mazón’s announcement that he would leave his post as the regional head of Valencia, questions are swirling as to what comes next.

Mazón did not say if he was calling a snap election or quitting his seat in the regional assembly, which would end his parliamentary immunity.

About 70% of town’s olives are inaccessible without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers

Around As-Sawiya, rolling hills covered in fields and orchards rise to a horizon sharp against a pristine blue sky. It is a stunning view. But look closer and it becomes clear why the few thousand residents of this small town in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank say they are under siege – and why the olives are still heavy on the trees two weeks after the official date of the beginning of the annual harvest.

From the highest point in As-Sawiya, Mahmud Hassan, the mayor, points out the olive orchards on the other side of the highway below the town. They lie on land owned by local families but are now impossible to reach without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers who live in settlements around the town, or with Israeli security forces, he says. In all, about 70% of the town’s olives are currently inaccessible.

Reform UK leader expected to promise deregulation and spending cuts as Labour and Conservatives attack policies

Keir Starmer has been “listening” to Donald Trump’s complaints about the restrictions the UK government is imposing on oil and gas companies in the UK, Warren Stephens, the US ambassador to the UK, has said.

Stephens said that he thought there had been “a bit of movement” in UK policy as a result of Trump’s interventions and that he hoped that would continue.

I hope that the UK will continue to examine the policies in the North Sea and frankly, make some changes to it. To allow for more drilling and more production. Because you’re getting – you’re using oil and gas but you’re importing it. Why not use your own?

Yes, absolutely. And I think there are certainly members of the government that are listening to that. And there is a little bit of movement to make some changes to the policy. And I hope that will continue.

But it’s not just US companies; it’s a lot of UK companies here. I literally just had a meeting with a lot of them, a round table, and they’re worried about their supply chain. They’re worried about their workforce because right now they don’t have enough work for their workers.

So, not only are the current policies leaving a lot of oil and gas in the North Sea, they’re going to have a huge impact on employment.

The Defence Housing Service will operate as an arm’s length public body, with Healey saying the new service would “deliver better value for the taxpayer and fulfil our promise to provide homes fit for heroes”.

When created, it will be one of the largest publicly owned housing providers in the country.

Culley, 19, who was arrested on drug-smuggling charges in May, is released after plea deal

The pregnant British teenager Bella Culley has been released from a Georgian prison, where she had been held for six months on drug-smuggling charges after a plea deal.

Culley, 19, who is pregnant, was arrested in May at Tbilisi airport and accused of attempting to smuggle 12kg (26.5lbs) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lbs) of hashish into the country.

She was found guilty by a Georgian court on Monday and sentenced to five months and 25 days in prison, the total time she had already spent in custody. Her family also paid a 500,000 lari (about £137,000) fine as part of a plea deal.

Culley and her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, both cried as the verdict was read out.

Chinese leader says ‘check if there is a backdoor’ in reply to Lee Jae Myung’s quip about security of Xiaomi devices

It would take someone with nerves of steel to joke about the security of Chinese smartphones in front of Xi Jinping.

Step forward the South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, who, after being given a pair of smartphones by the Chinese leader before their state banquet at the weekend, wondered out loud if the devices were secure.

An elegant reflection on experience and imagination complicates a very familiar figure of speech

Simile

How does a simile work?
— Place something next to something
and say, here. (The here is where
the somethings touch.) The rainy
night, like Debussy.
There on the shelf, a piece

Michael O’Leary says Rachel Reeves needs tax cuts to create growth, as airline’s profits jump 42% in first half

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The UK economy is “doomed” under the Labour government, the boss of Ryanair has said before this month’s budget, as the airline revealed a jump in first half profits.

Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of the budget airline, hit out at Rachel Reeves, accusing the chancellor of failing to deliver on her programme of economic growth.

For 20 years, populists have been blaming the ECHR for endangering Britain by offering basic protections to immigrants

In the latest series of Blue Lights, the BBC drama about police officers in Belfast, there’s a scene where a constable insists on staying with a mentally ill man until a nurse arrives. “This is an article two issue,” the officer tells his colleague – by which he means that under article two of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), incorporated into UK law by the 1998 Human Rights Act, the state has a duty to protect life. It is an uncontroversial example of how the ECHR, which turns 75 this week, has found its way into everyday life across the UK.

In Westminster, withdrawal from the ECHR has become a new rallying cry for the right, which claims it is the solution to unauthorised migration. In early October, Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives said they want to take the UK out of the convention if they win the next election. Last week, MPs voted down a largely symbolic proposal by Reform’s Nigel Farage to do the same. The right’s hope is that it will become a wedge issue similar to Brexit. “We are not sovereign all the while we are part of the European convention on human rights,” Farage claimed.

The American stepped away from the tour in 2023 to address her mental health. This year has been spectacular as she has reached two grand slam finals

There is an air of calm surrounding Amanda Anisimova when she speaks; a palpable sense of her comfort in her own skin.

In a sport like tennis that can swing its protagonists from one emotional extreme to another, week in, week out, Anisimova has worked hard to value the highs, the lows, and the moments in between, all while staying true to herself.

Mahnoor Omer hopes the case will put public pressure on the government to make sanitary products affordable in a country where they cost too much for most women

For a 25-year-old, seeing her name written on official papers at Lahore’s high court was daunting. But the case of Mahnoor Omer v Federation of Pakistan has now had its first hearing and Omer, a young lawyer from Rawalpindi taking on her government, has moved from relative obscurity to becoming a headline-making activist.

Omer is challenging the country’s “period tax”, which sees only a small proportion of women in Pakistan able to buy sanitary pads thanks to high taxes and duties which, according to Unicef, can add up to 40% to the retail price. One study found that only 16.2% of women in rural areas used pads due to the cost.

On its release in 1993, Midway’s gore-filled fighting game ushered in a new era of hyperviolent gaming that continues to influence the industry to this day

On 9 December 1993, Democratic senator Joe Lieberman sat before a congressional hearing on video game violence and told attendees that the video game industry had crossed a line. The focus of his ire was Mortal Kombat, Midway’s bloody fighting game, recently released on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System after a successful run in the arcades. “Blood splatters from the contestants’ heads,” he told the room. “The game narrator instructs the player to finish his opponent. That player may choose a method of murder ranging from ripping a heart out or pulling off the head of the opponent, with spinal cord attached.”

Lieberman’s aim with the congressional hearing had been to force the US games industry into creating a formal ratings system, preventing minors from buying violent titles. He succeeded in that – the Entertainment Software Rating Board was established as a result of the hearing – but he also boosted a moral panic that had quietly begun with the launch of the Mortal Kombat arcade game in 1992. This then took on more urgency following the high-profile home console release on 13 September 1993 – a global simultaneous launch Midway named Mortal Monday. US news networks were sending reporters to arcades, interrogating teens as they enthusiastically dismembered each other’s fighters. Newspapers were interviewing alarmed child psychologists. The BBC responded by featuring the game on its late-night news magazine programme The Late Show, calling in author Will Self to play live in the studio.

The latest in our series of writers fondly sharing their go-to mood-lifting films is a journey to the countryside with Robert Altman in charge

Robert Altman called Gosford Park – his take on a 1930s country-house murder mystery – a “Who cares who dunnit?” But he did care that Eileen Atkins, learning to play the sour cook Mrs Croft, knew how far to whisk eggs for ice cream. A woman who worked in houses of the period taught her, though Mrs Croft’s relentless contempt for her “betters” is pure Atkins.

The accurate ice-cream is for a weekend’s shooting party hosted by Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon), a wealthy industrialist. Servants tend to the gathered guests in their rooms, or toil and gossip below in a network of dim corridors and internal windows. Gosford Park takes place in November but was shot in March, so the previous season’s pheasants were defrosted and dropped from the sky. They are the only fakes in an ensemble cast of real deals.

One baseball win was never going to bind Canada – and sympathetic fans south of the border – together for ever. But it was sweet while it lasted

The first time the Blue Jays won a World Series, in 1992, the team’s victory parade was held on the same day as a contentious national referendum. At play that day was a suite of potential constitutional changes that had Canadians, living through a period of economic strain, regional tension, and a growing distrust of political elites, questioning what kind of country they were living in. The referendum failed and paved the way for another, three years later, in 1995, that almost saw Quebec leave Canada altogether. Following the win, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney congratulated the Jays noting that, beyond it being a “historic victory” the team’s playoff run “united a nation behind you, capturing the imagination of Canadians from coast to coast.” It was something Canada needed.

This time there was no parade. The Jays lost 5-4 to the LA Dodgers in the early hours of Sunday in a heartbreaking Game 7, missing out on their first World Series title in 32 years.

Suspect was arrested after incident on Saturday evening service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross

A man has been charged after a mass stabbing on a high-speed train in Cambridgeshire in which 11 people were injured.

Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough, has been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Author was injured in multiple places and lost use of his right eye after assassination attempt during a lecture

Salman Rushdie says he has been free of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder despite almost dying from being stabbed during an attempted assassination in 2022, prompting his therapist to humorously conclude that it’s because the famed novelist is a “badass”.

Rushdie shared the lighthearted anecdote during an interview aired Sunday morning by CBS News in which he discussed his new fictional story collection titled The Eleventh Hour – while also revisiting the attack at a literary gathering in western New York state that left him blind in his right eye.

The once-great author revisits St Cloud’s orphanage all too briefly, in a novel that begins with an adopted girl but wanders all over the place

If some writers have an imperial phase, where they hit the heights time after time, then American novelist John Irving’s ran through a series of four fat, satisfying novels, from his 1978 breakthrough The World According to Garp to 1989’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Those were generous, funny, big-hearted books, tying characters he calls “outliers” to social issues from feminism to abortion.

Since Owen Meany, it’s been diminishing returns, except in page length. His last novel, 2022’s The Last Chairlift, was 900 pages of subjects Irving had explored better in earlier books (mutism, dwarfism, transgenderism), with a 200-page screenplay in the middle to pad it out – as if padding were needed.

Storm locally known as Kalmaegi expected to make landfall by Tuesday, while a supercell rocks Queensland

Tropical Cyclone Tino formed to the east of the Philippines at the weekend, prompting a nationwide alert. Locally known as Kalmaegi, the storm is strengthening quickly and could reach typhoon status before making landfall early this week, which would make it the 20th tropical cyclone to hit the country this year.

The weather system entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Sunday, with sustained winds of 52mph (84km/h) and 65mph gusts. The storm is tracking westward and is expected to intensify into a typhoon within the next 24 hours, before making landfall over Caraga or Eastern Visayas by Tuesday morning.

Leader of Spanish region’s People’s party had clung to power despite calls for him to stand down over 2024 disaster

Carlos Mazón, the embattled president of the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, has bowed to public fury and political pressure by resigning over his botched handling of the deadly floods that killed 229 people in the area just over a year ago.

Mazón, a member of the conservative People’s party (PP), had hung on despite calls for him to stand down after it emerged that he spent more than three hours having lunch with a journalist as the floods hit and people were drowning in their homes, garages and cars.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Opec+ pauses oil output hikes beyond December amid fears of a crude glut

Student accommodation provider Empiric has reported a drop in bookings from students from China.

Empiric Student Property, which is currently being taken over by rival Unite Group, told shareholders this morning that its occupancy levels have dropped to 89% at the start of this academic year, compared with 95% in October 2024.

“The booking cycle for academic year 2025/26 has seen an increase in reservations from UK students and a reduction in the number of Chinese students staying with us, potentially the result of geopolitical events.

Rental growth remains in line with guidance and we are well positioned for January sales activity. All the while, we have continued to improve the quality of the portfolio whilst delivering on capital deployment commitments.”