I love the way we are both looking in astonishment at my son. It shows the unwavering support she gave me when he was born
This picture of my mother, me and my eldest son, Theo, was taken the morning after he was born in May 2002, in University College Hospital, London.
There are a lot of things I love about it. I love the fact my mother is exquisitely dressed – she’s wearing her pearls! She always looked very elegant at this time in her life and enjoyed clothes (we bought that suit on a day out together). I love the composition too – our three dark heads, faces in profile and the way our three hands are aligned. I love the miracle of my son’s intricate little shell of an ear, the nose (his dad’s) and lips (mine) still visible now in his 23-year-old face.
As Americans worry about healthcare and affordability, the ‘no more wars’ president is helping oil companies instead
Immediately after Donald Trump ordered a military strike in Venezuela, many critics focused on how that attack violatedinternational law as well as the US War Powers Resolution. But there hasn’t been nearly enough focus on the domestic implications of Trump’s move.
Nearly 16,000 nurses set to join union-led strike Monday to demand large hospitals across NYC ‘put patients over profit’
Nearly 16,000 nurses in New York City are set to strike on Monday amid a battle over pay during contract negotiations.
The action, due to take place across five large hospitals, is being organized by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), which is demanding the hospitals put patients over profit.
Godfall by Van Jensen; The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier; The Poet Empress by Shen Tao; A Hole in the Sky by Peter F Hamilton; Hello Earth, Are You There? by Brian Aldiss
Godfall by Van Jensen (Bantam, £20) The debut novel by a popular comic-book writer is set in a small town in Nebraska, after the landing of a three-mile-long alien figure dubbed “the Giant”. Local sheriff David Blunt is struggling to do his job following the sudden boom in population: in addition to scientists, government agents and soldiers at the highly classified research area established around the mystery from outer space, many more enthusiasts flood to the town, possibly including a serial killer. Two people have been killed in a horrifically brutal way when the FBI takes over and tries to shut him out. But when the next victim is a man he’s known all his life, Blunt is more determined than ever to catch the killer. His investigation draws him to infiltrate a doomsday cult and to discover more about the tangled lives of the people he grew up with, along with the possibility that there could be a clue in the physical composition of the Giant. A suspenseful, well-written blend of science fiction and serial killer thriller.
The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier (Renegade, £18.99) In 1770s Cornwall, Kensa’s father was hanged as a smuggler, and she now feels a despised outsider, especially in contrast to her quiet half-sister. Only when the local wise woman, Isolde, accepts Kensa as her apprentice can she imagine a future in which she could be respected as a healer. But there’s more than useful potions and a helpful dose of trickery to the role: the wise women of Cornwall are responsible for making sure an ancient pact between land-dwellers and the creatures of the sea continues to hold. Kensa has learned little of the Old Ways when she must suddenly act alone. She has seen Isolde summon the Father of Storms from under the sea, but when she does the same, she finds she has made a horrifying bargain. If she can’t put things right, the sea will rise and drown the whole area. A moving exploration of sisterhood and community, this is an evocatively written folkloric fantasy.
‘We have our own medics,’ bystanders were told after ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis
Witnesses to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shooting Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday say federal officers impeded the response of emergency medical personnel to the scene, blocking the road with their vehicles.
Emily Heller, a witness who lives near the intersection of 34th Street and Portland Avenue, recorded the scene as it unfolded. She told NBC News that agents blocked people from approaching Good’s vehicle. Her video shows a man who identified himself as a physician asking to check for a pulse and being rebuffed.
There is palpable tension: not because anyone trusts the president and the US, but because now there is opportunity for change
Jesús Piñero is a historian at the Central University of Venezuela
In 1936, Venezuelans learned for the first time what it meant to transition towards democracy. While this was not the only period of transition the country would experience (since the process that began in 1958 consolidated a more open and enduring political regime), the transition of 1936 was longer and more complex, resembling the one Venezuelans are now experiencing after the capture of Nicolás Maduro on 3 January 2026.
Coromoto Escalona, a 35-year-old woman, was preparing her baby’s feeding bottle when she heard some strange noises in the house. It was two o’clock in the morning. She wondered whether the fridge had broken down, since it sometimes made strange noises when it was damaged. Her eldest daughter, who was scrolling on WhatsApp, shouted from her room: “Mum, they’re bombing us.” The two of them stopped what they were doing, grabbed the essentials – the feeding bottle, water and some food – and ran to an underground room in their house, an old colonial mansion in La Pastora, a working-class neighbourhood in central Caracas.
Jesús Piñero is a journalist and a historian at the Central University of Venezuela
His demeanour after defeat by former club causes upset
Nuno has two wins from 16 games since replacing Potter
West Ham are losing faith in Nuno Espírito Santo’s ability to save them from relegation and unhappy with their manager embracing Nottingham Forest players on the pitch after losing to his former side on Monday.
Nuno, fired by Forest last September, finds his position under increasing threat after 10 games without a win. West Ham remain reluctant to make their second sacking of the season but are increasingly unimpressed with the Portuguese’s tactics and did not like his demeanour after their latest defeat.
Teaser reels for next December’s coming episode give no clues to the story, still less to how these old characters are returning via the multiverse
Avengers: Doomsday may still be almost a year off, but already it feels as if Hollywood has entered a new era of confidence marketing, built around a sort of ritualised roll-call of legacy characters who really need everyone to know they haven’t been retired yet. In the last few weeks we’ve had three almost completely pointless short trailers online, with another reportedly playing in cinemas ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. First there was Captain America cradling his baby, then Thor praying to his dear old dead omnipotent dad. This week we got our first proper look at the classic X-Men lineup in the new film, and there are suggestions that an encounter between the Fantastic Four’s The Thing and half of Wakanda is imminent.
Something weird is clearly happening. These aren’t teaser trailers in any meaningful sense, because these half-cocked, chord-drenched promotional entries tell us absolutely nothing about what is to come. Assembled fandom wants to know who Doctor Doom is in the new movie, and why he looks exactly like Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man (because if this is just stunt-casting there are going to be walkouts). We want to know how all the Fantastic Four and X-Men have suddenly turned up in the main Marvel timeline, when the last 17 years of these movies made no mention of them whatsoever. And we’d really like it not to just be explained away by … “the multiverse”.
Bournemouth will find it hard to replace a player at the peak of his powers, an attacker polished up perfectly for the elite
Antoine Semenyo’s rise is a reminder the big clubs’ scouting systems are not infallible, that not all players will flower at the same time. Fulham, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Reading and Tottenham rejected the schoolboy Semenyo. At 15, he took a year’s absence from the game.
A decade on, a circuitous route to the top alights at Manchester City, who beat a queue of big hitters to his signature. Bournemouth’s ability to find talent the elite passed over continues to prove profitable. Pep Guardiola’s squad has another player who pairs physical power with a high skill level. It also adds a long-throw specialist to the armoury; City are towards the bottom of the metrics in that voguish category.
The whole plant is edible and they don’t need much light – so they’re an easy, tasty treat
January can hardly be considered an abundant time of year. All but the evergreens are barren and bare. Yet there is an approach to year-round growing that, in the depths of winter, feels all the more miraculous. Microgreens are not a “type” of plant, but a method of growing leafy crops which doesn’t require much space or effort – and, importantly for now, can be done indoors – in order to achieve an unseasonably fresh burst of flavour on your dinner plate.
Any plant that is edible from top-to-toe can be grown as a microgreen. From salad leaves like lettuce and sorrel to herbs such as basil, dill, coriander and fennel, plus all the brassicas from the very delicious mustard greens and rocket to the far less spicy broccoli and kale. Also on the fuller side of the flavour profile are nasturtiums and sunflowers, which produce juicy shoots with a nutty flavour. Peas also produce a substantial shoot with pretty leaves and tendrils. Amaranth, carrot and perilla are other edible plants I am eager to try.
UK ministers are considering leaving X as a result of the controversy over the platform’s AI tool, which has been allowing users to generate digitally altered pictures of people – including children – with their clothes removed.
Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party and a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, said on Friday that conversations were happening within the government and Labour about their continued use of the social media platform, which is controlled by Elon Musk.
He was on the way to Liverpool last year and Manchester City are gunning for him now, reinforcements required after injuries to Josko Gvardiol and Rúben Dias. It’s only natural then that Arsenal feel a little bit left out. Yes, the league leaders are reportedly having a look at Crystal Palace’s in-demand captain, Marc Guéhi, whose contract runs out in the summer. Guéhi fighting it out with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães in central defence? That wall at the back could become impenetrable.
A re-jig in the Tottenham backline is also in the offing. They’re pushing hard for the Santos left-back Souza, 19 years young, after an £8m bid was rejected, while the former Genoa centre-back Radu Dragusin – who recently returned from an ACL injury – is rumoured for a move back to Italy, Roma the proposed destination. Brentford’s Kevin Schade continues to be linked with Spurs, which would set up a reunion with his former coach Thomas Frank.
US envoy welcomes pause in hostilities in contested region although it is unclear whether deal will hold
Syria’s government has announced a ceasefire after three days of clashes with Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, which has led to more than 140,000 people being displaced.
The pause in the fighting, which was the most intense in the country for more than six months, came into effect at 3am local time (midnight GMT). Under the terms of the ceasefire, Kurdish militants were to leave the three contested neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh and Bani Zaid, where clashes were happening. They would be provided safe passage to the north-east of the country, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and be allowed to take light arms with them.
Big names from Leonardo DiCaprio to Timothée Chalamet are aiming for a win at Hollywood’s most important Oscars precursor
Hollywood’s A-list will assemble this weekend for the 83rd Golden Globes ceremony, a night that will reveal where this year’s Oscars race is headed.
Stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Michael B Jordan and Ariana Grande are among those nominated for film awards while small screen nominees include Helen Mirren, Jenna Ortega, Jude Law and Glen Powell.
Exclusive: SIK leader Jess Berthelsen rejects Trump claim that the US needs Greenland for ‘national security’
Greenland “will not be annexed”, the longtime leader of its largest labor union has declared, refuting Donald Trump’s claims that the Arctic territory’s current status poses a national security threat to the US.
In an interview with the Guardian, Jess Berthelsen, chair of SIK, Greenland’s national trade union confederation, said people in the territory do not recognize the US president’s allegations that Russian and Chinese ships are scattered throughout its waters. “We can’t see it, we can’t recognize it and we can’t understand it,” he said.
Barely a mile from Floyd’s murder, an officer killed Renee Nicole Good. We must peacefully say no to this violence
On 25 May 2020, America witnessed a stunning act of police brutality when a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, murdered George Floyd. The killer, Derek Chauvin, apparently confident that he would be immune to accountability, did his deed in the open, with other officers standing by and in front of a crowd of onlookers.
Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty
The author on the trouble with the Brönte novels, what she gained from reading John Updike and Martin Amis – and the brilliance of Barbara Pym
My earliest reading memory
Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome, aged seven. I didn’t learn to read in the first years of school and became entrenched in illiteracy until my grandmother, a retired primary school teacher, intervened. I loved the Swallows and Amazons series, and especially Swallowdale in which a shipwreck is redeemed and the adults provide exactly the right support when the children mess up.
My favourite book growing up
The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose politics I now find obviously objectionable. I often tell students that what you don’t get is what gets you, and I’m sure the obsession with rugged independence and the repression of foundational violence did me no good, but I liked the landscapes and the combination of domesticity and adventure.
Scientists at UCL say drug developers should focus on two risk-raising variants of the Apoe gene
New therapies for Alzheimer’s disease should target a particular gene linked to the condition, according to researchers who said most cases would never arise if its harmful effects were neutralised.
The call to action follows the arrival of the first wave of drugs that aim to treat Alzheimer’s patients by removing toxic proteins from the brain. While the drugs slow the disease down, the benefits are minor, and they have been rejected for widespread use by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).
From cosy museums and tropical islands to nightmarishly difficult adventures – and revamps of favourites including Mario Kart and Pokémon – there’s something for everyone
Nintendo’s newest console has been out for a less than a year but it already boasts an impressive catalogue of excellent new games, as well as a variety of enhanced Switch greats. Here’s our selection of the 15 best titles currently on offer, ranging from family favourites to grittier, more adult challenges.
The third round of the FA Cup threw up plenty of intriguing ties. Check out some of the storylines ahead of the action which gets underway with four matches tonight.
Today’s Rumour Mill has been released into the wild. How many bloody defenders do Arsenal need?!
US president says move was reaction to Caracas releasing large numbers of political prisoners as ‘sign of seeking peace’
Just days after launching an unprecedented operation in Venezuela to seize its president and effectively take control of its oil industry, Donald Trump sat down with New York Times journalists for a wide-ranging interview that took in everything from international law, Taiwan, Greenland and weight-loss drugs.
The president, riding high on the success of an operation that has upended the rules of global power, spoke candidly and casually about the new world order he appears eager to usher in; an order governed not by international norms or long-lasting alliances, but national strength and military power.
Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid
Surgical face masks provide inadequate protection against flu-like illnesses including Covid, and should be replaced by respirator-level masks – worn every time doctors and nurses are face to face with a patient, according to a group of experts urging changes to World Health Organization guidelines.
There is “no rational justification remaining for prioritising or using” the surgical masks that are ubiquitous in hospitals and clinics globally, given their “inadequate protection against airborne pathogens”, they said in a letter to WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Deal with Bournemouth has add-ons and sell-on clause
Semenyo says he is aiming to get City into the title race
Antoine Semenyo says he has arrived at Manchester City with the intention of getting the club back into the Premier League title race. The £62.5m signing joins a team six points behind the leaders, Arsenal, with 17 matches remaining.
The 26-year-old’s transfer from Bournemouth, who could receive £1.5m in add-ons and are due 10% of any future profit, was confirmed on Friday and Semenyo could make his debut against Exeter in the FA Cup on Saturday. City fought off competition from Liverpool and Manchester United to secure his signature.
If this reform succeeds it will be a blueprint for African self-reliance. But the state has failed to deliver the most basic services for decades. No wonder Nigerians are suspicious
Let’s not mince words. Nigeria’s new tax regime, which landed on our heads this January, is the most ambitious attempt to reshape the state since, well, since the last time someone had a “bright idea” in Abuja. They’re calling it a “generational reset”.
From where I sit, and from where millions of Nigerians actually sit – in traffic, in market stalls, in offices – wondering how to make ends meet, it feels more like a grand, high-stakes gamble.
Connexion
