A new brand flogging face masks for four-year-olds is disturbing, but it’s worth asking why children are asking for these products in the first place
As a newish mother, I am only too aware of the myriad ways we have failed our children. And then I came across a new skincare company aimed at four-year-olds. It’s early days for Rini, whose sole product is now a Korean-made hydrating facial mask. A healing ointment and daily barrier cream are allegedly in the works, too. If you were under any illusions as to the mask’s purpose, it is infused with vitamin B12 – which, according to various skincare sites, improves elasticity and skin texture – with a clear peel-on application process modelled online, Patrick Bateman-style, by a preschooler.
On the one hand, I appreciate that children put all sorts on their faces – face paint, stickers, poo, toothpaste, kitchen cleaner, a sibling’s blood, and that’s just in this last week alone – and that their faces will occasionally need to be cleaned. And while it’s entirely plausible that some parents will be moved watching their child dip their delicate toes into the world of Korean beauty, I’m marginally more concerned by the strains of strep and croup doing the rounds at my two-year-old’s childcare (I am also worried about my six-year-old’s health, but if this company is anything to go by, he’s probably beyond help).
Morwenna Ferrier is the Guardian’s fashion and lifestyle editor
With no Cummins and Hazlewood, Boland off the boil and Doggett on debut, the veteran quick notched a career-best seven for 58 to dominate the opening stanza in Perth
When an Ashes series finally begins and the interminable prognosticating reaches its end, it is customary to discover anew that all of the talk is just talk. So it was for all of us who have offered opinions on the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, and how losing two champion fast bowlers would drastically weaken the Australian side. Instead, it only gave space to their remaining colleague to dominate the first stanza of the Perth Test on his own. In barely a session, Mitchell Starc turned the Big Three into the Big One.
Scott Boland was off the boil – it didn’t matter. Brendan Doggett was on debut, chipping in around the edges – it didn’t matter either. Starc has now notched a career best in consecutive innings: six for nine in Kingston back in July, followed by seven for 58 here.
Exclusive: Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings
The FBI spied on a private Signal group chat of immigrants’ rights activists who were organizing “courtwatch” efforts in New York City this spring, law enforcement records shared with the Guardian indicate.
The FBI, the documents show, gained access to conversations in a “courtwatch” Signal group that helps coordinate volunteer activists who monitor public proceedings at three New York federal immigration courts. The US government has repeatedly been accused of violating immigrants’ due process rights at those courts.
AI-generated songs are topping Spotify charts. This isn’t about the ‘democratization’ of art – it’s about scale
Making music is hard. Well, at least it used to be. I remember the old days, when you had to spend hours and hours honing skills, coming up with something clever or personal to say, then actually recording sounds that people would want to listen to. But that’s the past. In our sparkling future, a pre-teen can dump a bunch of words into a machine and out comes a catchy tune. In 2025, a robot can be a pop star. (Although Data from Star Trek did drop an album back in the 90s. How soon we all forget.)
Three AI-generated songs recently topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” charts. One of the “creators” responsible for these songs, Broken Veteran, who squirted out a track about immigration policies, told the Guardian that AI is “just another tool for expression, particularly valuable for people like me who have something to say but lack traditional musical training”. It used to be that if you didn’t know how to do something, you wouldn’t do it.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
In India’s Mizoram state, people have an intricate system of harvesting and consuming the pungent and nutritious bugs
Every few years when Udonga montana, a bamboo-feeding stink bug, erupts in massive swarms, the people of the Mizo community in northern India don’t reach for pesticides. Instead, they look for baskets.
Locally, this small brown stink bug is called thangnang. Outsiders see them as an infestation but in the bamboo forests of Mizoram state this small brown bug has long been woven into the food culture.
Hosts close 49 behind after ball-dominated day in Perth
The opening day of this Ashes series has set an absurdly high bar for what is to come. England played their supporters back at home, a collapse to 172 all out like waking up to a horse’s head in the bed, only for Ben Stokes and his stable of quicks to deliver a more telling statement of their own.
If they did not know it before, Australia are now well aware that this is a very different England side to those of the past. The fast forward but fragile batting was a known quantity, granted. But it now comes with a pool of high-octane seamers who will test techniques and tickers in equal measure.
(LPO) Recorded live at the BBC Proms, Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s propulsive performance, with soloists Allan Clayton, Jamie Barton and James Platt, is one to cherish
The Dream of Gerontius may be the unlikely star of Alan Bennett’s The Choral, but it’s hardly in need of a popularity boost: Edward Gardner’s vibrant new recording is one of three released in the last two years, with another due in January.
Recorded live at the 2022 BBC Proms, this propulsive reading has a great deal going for it. Allan Clayton captures the febrile nature of the dying man whose every sensation is both a terror and a fascination. His heroic tone thrills in the great prayer, Sanctus Fortis, while an expressive use of text illuminates the philosophical question and answer session in Part Two. Jamie Barton’s luxurious mezzo-soprano possesses a tangible immediacy as well as offering ample reserves of comfort. James Platt’s craggy bass is well-suited to the Angel of the Agony.
The crime writer on actor Frances Farmer’s life-changing story of survival, her favourite self help and discovering Agatha Christie’s alter ego
My earliest reading memory
I was six, and in the lounge in my first home in Manchester. I was sitting cross-legged on the grey carpet, in 1977, when I finished reading whichever of Enid Blyton’s brilliant Secret Seven mysteries contains the mind-blowing (genuinely, for a six-year-old) twist that “Emma Lane” turns out to be a road and not a person.
My favourite book growing up
Up to the age of 12, Blyton’s Secret Seven and Five Find-Outers mysteries; from 12 onwards, it was Agatha Christie. Growing up, I was certain that no other kind of story could ever hope to be as satisfying as the very best mystery story.
The sport is rooted in the culture of rugged individualism and has been slow to adopt modern techniques. That state of affairs is slowly changing
Boosted by cultural phenomena like the hit series Yellowstone and Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album and tour, rodeo and all things Western are enjoying a cultural resurgence. Attendance, broadcast and streaming viewership are at all time highs. So is the prize money, which is attracting more and more young athletes seeking a chance to make a name for themselves.
But while rodeo is booming, athlete development remains antiquated.
Nearly 13m people are hoarding millions of dollars’ worth of the stylish 50 peso note, featuring Mexico’s cutest critter
For most of her life, Gorda was just an axolotl who lived in a museum in Mexico City – that is, until she became the star of the country’s favourite banknote.
The note, which features a depiction of Gorda as the model for Mexico’s iconic species of salamander, went into circulation in 2021, dazzling the judges of the International Bank Notes Society, who declared it the Note of the Year.
Chelsea: It seems Palmer’s toe is broken. Jacob Steinberg has the latest from Enzo Maresca’s press conference: “Bad news for Chelsea fans, who have been left reeling by the revelation that Cole Palmer’s comeback from a groin injury has been delayed by the forward fracturing a toe in a freak accident at home,” he writes.
”Speaking ahead of his side’s trip to Burnley, Enzo Maresca said: ‘He is not available for tomorrow for sure, Barcelona for sure or Arsenal for sure. Unfortunately, he had an accident at home where he hit his toe but it is nothing important but he won’t be back in the next week. It’s fractured.’ I’m reminded of this …”
Chelsea: Enzo Maresca has revealed that Cole Palmer’s eagerly awaited return to the Chelsea line-up following his recovery from a groin injury will be delayed because the midfielder has hurt his toe in some unspecified accident at home. The Chelsea head coach says he doesn’t know whether or not the little piggy in question is broken.
(Modern Love) The producer’s second album is a granular dissection of cumbia rebajada, forcing the listener to focus on the strangeness of every moment in her ambient soundworld
Mexican-American producer Delia Beatriz, AKA Debit, has a talent for making historical sounds her own. Her 2022 breakthrough, The Long Count, featured woozy, ambient soundscapes made from electronically processed samples of ancient Maya flutes. On her latest record, Desaceleradas (Decelerated), Beatriz turns her attention to the 90s trend of cumbia rebajada. Slowing the Afro-Latin dance genre of cumbia to a sludgy tempo, cumbia rebajada is a dub-influenced take on a typically upbeat, party-driven sound. DJ Gabriel Dueñez popularised the style with his bootleg cassettes; two of his earliest releases now form the basis of Beatriz’s experiments.
Landing somewhere between composer William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops and DJ Screw’s chopped’n’screwed production style, Desaceleradas slows the shaker-rattling, synth syncopations of cumbia rebajada into unrecognisable ambient territory. La Ronda y el Sonidero and Vinilos Trasnacionales contain hints of the signature cumbia shuffle and twanging synth melody, but Beatriz’s added tape hiss, reverb and melodic warping transform the style into an eerie, ethereal soundworld of nightmare fairground music and yearning drones.
(Mass Appeal) The first release since the death of their founding member dwells on the afterlife, yet doesn’t forsake their perpetually sunny sound
Cabin in the Sky, the tenth album by De La Soul – and first since the 2023 death of founding member Trugoy the Dove, AKA Dave Jolicoeur – is, loosely, a concept album about death and the afterlife. A spoken-word intro by actor Giancarlo Esposito primes you for something heavy, but you are instantly reminded, of course, that this is a De La Soul album: it seems practically impossible that their brand of lackadaisical, perpetually sunny plunderphonics could ever feel like a drag. The lush strings of Yuhdontstop introduce an album that’s always projected in full-saturation Technicolor: from the effervescent Natalie Cole sample on Will Be to Maseo’s jovial, avuncular ad-libs that open Cruel Summers Bring Fire Life!!, Cabin in the Sky feels warm and rich in vitamin D, a tonic for chillier months.
For the most part, the afterlife theme seems to have been tacked on, likely after Trugoy’s death; the album still features his vocals, and most of the songs on the album fit squarely in De La Soul’s already established surrealist world. (Patty Cake, a minimalist highlight, reinterprets classic schoolyard chants, a conceit that somehow hasn’t already been done on a De La Soul record.) Even so, lasting more than 70 minutes, Cabin in the Sky can feel like a slog, with the end lacking the sprightliness of the album’s first half. An exception is the title track, on which Maseo and Pos pay tribute to Trugoy and others they’ve lost. It’s pensive and world-weary, but never loses its sense of magic.
Keir Starmer has accused Nigel Farage of being “spineless” when it comes to tackling racism in his party after the Guardian revealed allegations he made xenophobic and antisemitic comments while he was at school.
The prime minister said the Reform UK leader had “questions to answer” about the alleged comments and chants, which include songs about the Holocaust and accusations of bullying towards minority ethnic schoolboys.
Climate sceptics tell us that more people die of extreme cold than extreme heat. What’s the truth?
I began by trying to discover whether or not a widespread belief was true. In doing so, I tripped across something even bigger: an index of the world’s indifference. I already knew that by burning fossil fuels, gorging on meat and dairy, and failing to make even simple changes, the rich world imposes a massive burden of disaster, displacement and death on people whose responsibility for the climate crisis is minimal. What I’ve now stumbled into is the vast black hole of our ignorance about these impacts.
What I wanted to discover was whether it’s true that nine times as many of the world’s people die of cold than of heat. The figure is often used by people who want to delay climate action: if we do nothing, some maintain, fewer will die. Of course, they gloss over all the other impacts of climate breakdown: the storms, floods, droughts, fires, crop failures, disease and sea level rise. But is this claim, at least, correct?
The four semi-finalists, led by Wei Yi, will battle for three 2026 Candidates places – none of them has reached this stage before
The $2m World Cup in Goa will be remembered as an event where established stars were humbled and knocked out by supposedly lesser lights.
At 26, China’s Wei Yi is the oldest in Friday’s semi-finals. He was once a prodigy, renowned for his brilliant attacking style and the youngest to surpass an elite 2700 rating, but then opted to take a six-year break from chess to study economics and management, which he says he does not regret. He made a statement return in 2024, winning the “chess Wimbledon” at Wijk aan Zee, and the 2026 Candidates is his main target.
Irish indie acts used to be ignored, even on Irish radio. But songs confronting the Troubles, poverty and oppression are now going global – and changing how Ireland sees itself
On a hot Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury, while many are nursing halfway-point hangovers, the Dublin garage punk quartet Sprints whip up a jubilant mosh pit with their charged tune Descartes, Irish tricolour flags bobbing above them. As summer speeds on, at Japan’s Fuji rock festival, new songs from Galway indie act NewDad enrapture the crowd. Travy, a Nigerian-born and Tallaght-raised rapper, crafts a mixtape inflected with his Dublin lilt, the follow-up to the first Irish rap album to top the Irish charts. Efé transcends Dublin bedroom pop to get signed by US label Fader, and on Later … With Jools Holland, George Houston performs the haunting Lilith – a tribute to political protest singers everywhere – in a distinctive Donegal accent.
From Melbourne to Mexico City, concertgoers continue to scream to that opening loop on strings of Fontaines DC’s Starburster, and CMAT’s viral “woke macarena” dance to her hit single Take a Sexy Picture of Me plays out in festival pits and on TikTok. You might have heard about Kneecap, too.
Brommapojkarna will have a close eye on Arsenal’s clash with Spurs as their talent factory continues to thrive
“We’re building Swedish youth.” The sign adorning the main stand at Brommapojkarna is simple, authoritative and accurate. Beneath it, in the lashing rain, the men’s side are training. But while their top-tier status is important, that is far from the primary focus.
Twenty-four hours before the men’s game, BP’s 5,000-capacity Grimsta IP stadium hosted a celebration of the under-19s, who secured a first national title since 2008. Youth development is at the heart of the club and on Sunday the fruits of Vällingby, a suburb in west Stockholm, will be consumed 1,100 miles away in north London.
The enormous, serpentine fish, regarded in Japanese folklore as a herald of disaster, usually live deep below the surface and are only sighted when sick or dying
It was a beautiful warm day in north-west Tasmania when a fish with a reputation as a harbinger of doom washed ashore.
Tony Cheesman, who lives in the seaside town of Penguin, was walking his two dogs, Ronan and Custard, along the beach at Preservation Bay on Friday morning when something silvery and surrounded by gulls grabbed his attention.
The country has so many cultural and historical treasures that relatively few are known to tourists. Our tipsters share their discoveries, from ancient hill towns to a mini Venice
Approaching the town of Brisighella in Emilia-Romagna, it feels as though you are rapidly incorporating yourself in the backdrop of a Renaissance masterpiece, with dramatic rocky hills with singular trees perched upon them, and mysterious towers standing in solitary self-possession – leaving you to wonder what they must have witnessed over the years. The town is the perfect launchpad to explore such remarkably beautiful scenery, but it is also absolutely worth exploring its many medieval alleyways and its particularly unique elevated path, granting private nooks to take in the town’s charm. Gioia
Since 1995, when the first Cop was held, carbon levels have increased from 360.67 parts per million to 426.68 parts now
In 1995, when the first “conference of the parties” (Cop) of the UN’s climate change convention met in Berlin, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was approximately 360.67 parts per million. The then German chancellor, Helmut Kohl, gave a passionate speech about how greenhouse gases must be reduced to save the planet from overheating. There was a relatively unknown East German woman, the environment minister, Angela Merkel, chairing the conference. She was red hot at keeping order. The UK journalists concluded she would have a bright future.
Immediately after the conference I was commissioned to write a book about climate change called Global Warming: Can Civilization Survive? It sold well and was the first of several.
A collection of columns by the German Booker winner reveals a keen eye for details that mark the passing of time
Jenny Erpenbeck wrote the pieces collected in this compact yet kaleidoscopic book for a column in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; published in German in 2009, they now appear in an English translation by Kurt Beals, following the immense success of Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, which won the 2024 International Booker prize.
It’s interesting and instructive to reflect on what German newspaper readers made of the column in the early years of the new millennium, nearly two decades on from the fall of the Berlin Wall. For while Erpenbeck adopted some of the features of the form – apparently throwaway observations on daily life, such as minor irritation at the difficulty of sourcing proper splitterbrötchen, an unpretentious pastry now pimped for a more elaborate and wealthy clientele – she consistently enlarged and complicated it. Into that recognisable tone of ennui and mild querulousness with which journalists hope to woo a time-pressed but disenchanted or nostalgic readership, Erpenbeck smuggled metaphysics, politics and history.
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