This type of work is a gamble, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. It might help to consider what kind of life you’d like to avoid

• Read more Leading questions

I’m very confused. I love dance so much that I’ve been working towards a career in it since forever, but now I wonder if it is just a fun hobby. I’m not sure I can make it as a dancer, as I feel I’m not that good and I keep getting injuries. I’ve also heard that dance careers are hard and the working environments are not nice. How do I decide if I want this as a career or just as a hobby?

Eleanor says: Great question. Not, do I be a dancer, but, how do I decide whether to be a dancer?

The highly anticipated sequel to 1984’s seminal comedy sees the band reunite for a farewell show with appearances from Elton John, Questlove and Paul McCartney

The first trailer for the long-awaited sequel to This Is Spinal Tap has been released, showcasing the venerable rockers’ supposed last hurrah in a film called Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.

Spinal Tap II reunites Nigel Tufnel, David St Hubbins and Derek Smalls (played by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) as they get together for a final concert, more than 40 years after the 1984 mockumentary that made their name. In between, Spinal Tap released the album Break Like the Wind in 1992, appeared on The Simpsons, played the Live Earth charity concert in 2007 and Glastonbury in 2009.

Most comprehensive study of its kind highlights dangers of vehicle emissions and woodburning stoves

Exposure to certain forms of air pollution is linked to an increased risk of developing dementia, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.

The illness is estimated to affect about 57 million people worldwide, with the number expected to increase to at least 150m cases by 2050.

• ‘He’s got that pace back … he’s a proper wicket-taker’

• Captain takes five for 72 as England dominate India

Zak Crawley hailed Ben Stokes’s “phenomenal” resurgence with the ball as the England captain took his first Test five-wicket haul in eight years, driving the hosts into control of the fourth Test in Manchester.

Stokes finished with figures of five for 72 before Crawley struck 84 as England closed the second day on 225 for two, trailing India’s first-innings total by 133 runs. The former has recovered from a hamstring tear, sustained against New Zealand late last year, to become his side’s leading bowler this summer. He sits at the top of the series’ wicket-taking charts with 16 at an average of 24.75.

The late wrestling star found various kinds of fame outside of the ring but the more we knew about him, the more we often wish we didn’t

• Hulk Hogan, wrestling star and actor, dies aged 71

• Hulk Hogan – a life in pictures from wrestling fame to Trump rallies

Hulk Hogan broke containment. As popular as professional wrestling became during the 1980s, its ins and outs were not as well-publicized as the highlights of more superficially respectable sports such as football, baseball and basketball. Even non-sporty 80s kids could probably name a bunch of teams and a few ultra-famous players such as Michael Jordan, Joe Montana or Darryl Strawberry. Wrestlers, meanwhile, were essentially both the players and the teams, which should have made them easier to differentiate – but, in reality, made the whole thing seem like a TV show that you either watched, or you didn’t. Hulk Hogan, who died this week just shy of 72, was different. For better or worse.

Hogan, born Terry Bollea, had a wrestling career that synced near-perfectly with wrestling’s growing 1980s-era popularity. After bouncing between the World Wrestling Federation (the Vince McMahon-run organization now known as WWE) and the American Wrestling Association in the early 80s, Hogan returned to the WWF in 1983 and presided over an outbreak of what was diagnosed as “Hulkamania”. Even those who received the proper vaccinations against Hulkamania – namely, not paying attention to wrestling – could see the symptoms manifesting in others, and especially in the Hulkster himself. The red-and-yellow shirt he would tear off, the biker stache, the bandanna atop his thinning blond mane became instantly recognizable trademarks even for non-fans.

• Marco Rocco was suspended for bat-flip celebration

• Family sought emergency ruling to overturn penalty

• Judge granted relief hours before state tourney game

The 12-year-old Little Leaguer who faced suspension from his team’s first state tournament game for flipping his bat after hitting a game-winning home run will be allowed to play Thursday night.

Marco Rocco of Haddonfield, New Jersey, tossed his bat in the air on 16 July after his sixth-inning, two-run homer in the final of the sectional tournament. Marco was ejected and suspended for a game over what the family was told were actions deemed “unsportsmanlike” and “horseplay”.

SpaceX’s powerful internet system suffers rare disruption in one of its biggest international outages

SpaceX’s Starlink suffered one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, a rare disruption for Elon Musk’s powerful satellite internet system.

Users in the US and Europe began experiencing the outage at around 3pm EDT (1900 GMT), according to Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker that said as many as 61,000 user reports to the site had been made.

• Briton wins 6-4, 6-2 to make last eight in Washington

• Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans go out in straight sets

Emma Raducanu will reclaim the British No 1 ranking after winning her first meeting with the four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka in confident fashion. The clash was hotly anticipated but proved to be not that much of a contest, with Raducanu comfortably clinching a 6-4, 6-2 victory to reach the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Raducanu said: “I thought it was going to be a really difficult match. Naomi’s won four slams, she’s been world No 1, won Masters [titles]. She’s so dangerous and on the hard courts I think she’s particularly comfortable. I knew I was going to have to play really well and manage my own service games, which I’m really proud of how I did.

Reuters and AP among those urging Israeli authorities to allow reporters in and out of war-ravaged strip

• Skeletal children fill hospital wards as starvation grips Gaza

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Some of the world’s biggest news outlets, including BBC News, have joined forces to voice concern over the desperate plight of journalists in Gaza, warning they are “increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families”.

Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press, BBC News and Reuters said they were “desperately concerned” about the journalists in Gaza after widespread warnings of mass starvation.

Celebrated flugelhorn and trumpet player released over 30 albums and sold millions of records throughout his career

The Grammy-winning jazz musician and composer Chuck Mangione died on Tuesday, according to a statement from his family. He was 84.

“The family of Chuck Mangione is deeply saddened to share that Chuck peacefully passed away in his sleep at his home in Rochester, New York on July 22, 2025,” his family said in a statement released on Thursday to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Effortless content generator’s rare gift for catching the eye has been key to the Lionesses’ run to latest major final

It was Chloe Kelly’s wedding anniversary on Thursday. We know this because she posted about it to her 1 million Instagram followers, because everyone saw her personalised shin pad adorned with her wedding photo, and because she joked last week that she still hadn’t got her husband, Scott, a card.

But then Kelly has always had a rare gift for catching the eye. Her shirt-waving celebration at Wembley remains the defining image of the Euro 2022 triumph. Her trademark headband renders her instantly recognisable in a squad full of above-average-height blond women. Her hop-skip penalty run-up is unique. In a profession where many are naturally wary of being seen to court attention, Kelly is luxuriantly comfortable with being the focus of your gaze. As her teammate Esme Morgan puts it: “She just doesn’t really care what people think.”

Portraitist withdrew her National Portrait Gallery show over reports that a transgender Statue of Liberty painting could offend Trump

Artist Amy Sherald has decided to withdraw her upcoming show at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery over fears of censorship.

Sherald, who gained wider recognition after her portrait of Michelle Obama, was set to become the first contemporary Black artist to have an exhibition at the gallery.

Police arrested rapper after finding a ‘significant amount of marijuana’ in her Atlanta home during investigation

The American rapper GloRilla was arrested on felony drug charges the night before her performance at the WNBA all-star game, after police responded to a report of a burglary at her home in Atlanta on Saturday.

The Forsyth county sheriff’s office confirmed to Atlanta’s WSB-TV that authorities responded to a call about a burglary at a home owned by the rapper, legal name Gloria Hallelujah Woods, around 1.30am on Saturday. Woods was in Indianapolis at the time to perform at the WNBA all-star game that evening.

Band say three-year order is ‘attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The Irish hip-hop band Kneecap have criticised Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, after they were banned from entering the country for three years ahead of a scheduled appearance at a music festival there.

The group, who are outspoken supporters of Palestine, were due to perform at Sziget festival on 11 August. But the Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said on Thursday they had been banned because their “members repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups”.

Stripping anti-corruption agencies of their independence was a terrible – and unpopular – move. There are broader lessons for the president in this crisis

When Russian troops rolled across the border in 2022, it established a new contract between Ukrainians and their president. The existential need for unity was cemented by admiration for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s courage, and recognition of his ability to articulate the national mood and rally international support.

Ordinary politics were suspended. Critics who were already suspicious of his populist instincts and centralising tendencies did not want to aid Russia’s cause. They understood that wartime could require a different mode of leadership. This informal contract essentially held despite growing concerns about the concentration of power, the role of Mr Zelenskyy’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, and the departure of popular figures seen as potential rivals – notably the military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now ambassador to London, and the foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.

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The world’s assets are piling up in the hands of the few as growth is built on widening gaps. That’s not just unfair – it’s economically unsustainable

This year’s global wealth report by the City bank UBS confirms what is self-evident but rarely confronted: while riches are accumulating, their distribution remains starkly unbalanced. In the 56 countries and economic areas surveyed, the report says global personal wealth grew 4.6% in 2024. However, not all boats have been lifted by this tide. The gap is growing between those who hold assets and those who don’t.

The figures are shocking: just 60m of the world’s adults – 1.6% of the population – have net personal wealth of $226tn, or 48.1% of all the world’s riches. At the other extreme, four in 10 adults – 1.57bn people – have only $2.7tn, or just 0.6% of all the world’s personal wealth. Economists now argue that inequality is no longer a by-product of growth but a condition of it.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Men recently reunited with loved ones in their home country detail months of abuse at the facility

Venezuelan men who were deported by the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process are speaking out about treatment they described as “hell” and like a “horror movie”, after arriving back home. A total of 252 Venezuelan nationals were repatriated in the last week in a deal between the US and Venezuelan governments, with many able to reunite with family after their ordeal in El Salvador.

Carlos Uzcátegui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday morning in western Venezuela after he had been away for a year.

Kiera Duffy/Miró Quartet
(Pentatone)
The passionate settings of Spanish poetry in the Argentinian composer’s third string quartet are the real discovery of this career-spanning trilogy

Alberto Ginastera divided his own composing career into three phases, and each of his string quartets falls conveniently into one of those phases. Composed in 1948, String Quartet No 1 belongs to what Ginastera called his period of “objective nationalism”, when, following the example of his teacher Aaron Copland, he incorporated the folk music of his native Argentina more or less unaltered into his own music; 10 years later, in the “subjective nationalism” of the second quartet, those colouristic elements have been absorbed into the energised textures of his works, which are organised using Schoenberg’s 12-note technique.

As the Miró Quartet’s performances of the first two quartets show, both are attractive works, full of vivid incident, which deserve to be included in recitals far more often than they are. But it’s the third quartet that’s the real discovery here. By the time it was composed in 1973, Ginastera was living in Europe (he would die in Geneva in 1983) and in what he described as his “neo-expressionism” phase. Taking its cue from Schoenberg’s second quartet, it adds a solo soprano to the lineup, for passionate, dramatic settings of texts by three 20th-century Spanish poets: Juan Ramón Jiménez, Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti. The recording places the soprano, Kiera Duffy, rather farther forward than ideal, but there’s no denying that the effect is totally compelling.

• Fourth Test, day two: India 358; England 225-2

• Ben Stokes takes 5-72; Duckett hits 94, Crawley makes 84

After the mature, pragmatic climb to a match-winning first innings total at Lord’s came the return of England’s natural, more freewheeling rhythms. Wickets tumbled, runs flowed and a raucous second day in Manchester ended with the hosts in the ascendancy.

It began with a successful dousing of India’s lower order either side of lunch as the second new ball moved lavishly under cloud cover. Ben Stokes claimed his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket for eight years, Jofra Archer furthered optimism about his comeback with three, and the tourists were rolled for 358 in 114.1 overs. Rishabh Pant bravely emerged with his fractured foot but 17 more runs was all he could muster.

• Fields suffers toe injury during team drill

• Coach Glenn unsure of injury severity

• Tyrod Taylor takes over first-team reps

New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields was carted from the practice field Thursday morning with a toe injury.

Fields threw an incomplete pass to Jeremy Ruckert on his fifth play of team drills when he went down. The quarterback, in his first season with the Jets, sat on the grass for a few moments before getting up and limping to the sideline while helped by a trainer.

• Young Scot closes on podium as Pogacar extends lead

• Australia’s Ben O’Connor claims stage 18 victory

Oscar Onley edged closer to a surprise podium finish in the 2025 Tour de France, as Tadej Pogacar moved further ahead of second-placed Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour’s toughest mountain stage to Col de la Loze.

Urged on by the band of OnleyFans at the roadside, the 22-year-old from Kelso produced the ride of his young life in the Tour’s queen stage, won by Ben O’Connor, to climb to within 22sec of a top-three placing.

There are uncanny parallels in the journey of both teams but Sarina Wiegman’s side know how to win a Euros

A lauded coach under scrutiny, super-sub strikers, “Who else?” moments from world-class players, a Bayern Munich star labouring after injury, a statement performance against the Netherlands and some luck at penalties. It’s England at the Euros, but is it 2024 or 2025?

When Michelle Agyemang drove unerringly through the ball in the fifth minute of added time on Tuesday night, the mind flicked back to this time last year and Ollie Watkins burying a shot in similar fashion. His was a late winner against the Netherlands in Dortmund, Agyemang’s a crucial equaliser against Italy in Geneva. But both were clutch finishes with seconds left on the clock from substitutes who had barely been on the field.

The controversial wrestling star died at the age of 71 after a cardiac arrest at his home in Florida. He was one of the most successful wrestlers of the 1980s before starring in films such as Mr Nanny, Rocky III and Suburban Commando. He was also a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, taking part in campaign rallies for the president

• Hulk Hogan, wrestling star and actor, dies aged 71