Netanyahu ordered strikes on Tuesday evening after firefight between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza overnight killed at least 60 Palestinians, including 22 children, in what appeared to be the gravest challenge yet to the increasingly fragile US-brokered ceasefire and the deadliest day since the truce began.
The strikes, which according to Gaza’s civil defence agency killed many children and injured 200 people, took place hours after the US president, Donald Trump, said “nothing” would jeopardise the ceasefire agreement he helped broker.
In England, young children go from glitter clay and building dens to classrooms a Victorian would recognise – and that system is failing many of them
“Childhood doesn’t end the day you turn five,” Ruth Lue-Quee said to me on the phone as she shepherded her son to the playground this half term. “Playing is what children are born to do. It’s innate in them. It is how they learn.” The former deputy headteacher’s petition to make play-based pedagogy a core part of the key stage 1 (KS1) national curriculum in England has garnered almost the required 100,000 signatures for debate in parliament.
Observe any nursery or reception class and you’ll see what she means: kids roaming freely, modelling wet clay encrusted in glitter, playing pretend kitchen, banging on drums in the music cupboard. They’re interacting in an organic, self-guided way, moving around, using their imagination and following their own initiative. This is how the vast majority of early years pupils spend their time learning. Yet the moment a child finishes reception and begins year one, the English education system essentially dictates that playtime is over.
With 100 days to go until Milan Cortina, Team GB’s chef de mission for the next Winter Games hopes speaking out about her own experiences can help other athletes succeed
When Eve Muirhead led the Great Britain women’s curlers to Winter Olympic gold in 2022, the Guardian hailed her as the “Iron Lady” because she appeared indestructible.
It didn’t matter that she had failed initially to qualify for the Games. Or that she had Covid before the last-ditch tournament that finally secured their place. Or that Team GB’s women lost four of their opening eight matches in Beijing – and were 4-0 down against Sweden in the semi-finals. Somehow she always found a way.
The southern hemisphere big guns have touched down in Europe for the Quilter Nations Series and there is much to look forward to over the next five weekends
“My beleaguered Tranmere played Barnet a couple of weeks ago,” begins James. “I was amazed that this was the first ever meeting between two clubs who have spent so much time in the Football League. It made me wonder: what is the most surprising or eye-catching fixture in English club football that has never been played?”
We were surprised to hear that Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw with Wrexham on Saturday was the first ever league match between those two sides, though they have met in both domestic cup competitions.
222 seasons Everton (127) v Rochdale (95), West Brom (127) v Rochdale (95)
218 Everton (127) v Hartlepool United (91)
217 Manchester United (123) v Gillingham (94), Manchester City (123) v Exeter City (94)
216 Arsenal (122) v Southend United (94), Arsenal (122) v Exeter (94)
213 Liverpool (122) v Hartlepool (91)
206 Manchester United (123) v Mansfield Town (83)
205 Everton (127) v Torquay United (78)
204 Manchester United (123) v Darlington (81)
203 Newcastle United (122) v Darlington (81), Sunderland (125) v Torquay(7 8)
201 Manchester United (123) v Torquay (78)
200 Arsenal (122) v Torquay (78), Aston Villa (127) v Newport (73), Liverpool (122) v Torquay
3 days: Bill Lambton, Scunthorpe, April 1959
4 days: Dave Bassett, Crystal Palace, May 1984
7 days: Tim Ward, Exeter City, March 1953
Kevin Cullis, Swansea City, February 1996
8 days: Billy McKinlay, Watford, Sept-Oct 2014
9 days: Martin Ling, Cambridge, Jul-Aug 2009
The board of directors of Raith Rovers FC announces that we have parted company with manager Gary Locke and assistant manager Darren Jackson, with immediate effect.
Raith Rovers FC announces that we have this evening parted company with manager John Hughes and assistant manager Kevin McBride
2nd ODI: New Zealand, 177-5, bt England, 175, by five wkts
Daryl Mitchell hits 56no while Jofra Archer fires on return
Half-centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell carried New Zealand to a second one-sided victory against an England side still searching for a winning formula in the 50-over format. This loss added another track to their rotten recent record: a ninth consecutive away defeat in ODIs and a 10th in 11 games on their travels in the last 12 months, while also ensuring a sixth series defeat in their last seven attempts.
Against a New Zealand side without their premium fast bowler, Matt Henry, who was diagnosed with a calf injury on the morning of the match, England were dismissed for just 175, leaving 14 overs unused and presenting their opponents with not so much a challenge as a stroll. After again losing the toss the tourists’ top-order again misfired, with Jamie Overton coming in at No 8 to top-score with 42.
An African staging of Brian Friel’s Translations resonates deeply as the country distances itself from France
On a humid evening in Dakar, an Irish jig echoes through the country’s air-conditioned national theatre. The breathy, woody sound of the west African Fula flute brings a different cadence to the traditional tune. Actors dance across the stage, their peasant costumes stitched from African fabrics.
The dialogue is in French, the playwright is Irish and the players are Senegalese. Set in 1833, Brian Friel’s Translations– one of Ireland’s most celebrated modern plays – follows British soldiers sent to rural Donegal to translate Gaelic placenames into English.
The Oscar winner’s turn as a no-nonsense private investigator is a role model for women everywhere. She really shines alongside Ruth Wilson in this pacy, twisty thriller based on Mick Herron’s debut novel
I always forget how good Emma Thompson is. That is partly because she tends to work in film rather than television and I last made it to the cinema in the mid-90s. It is also partly because she is always so … how can I put this? … so Emma Thompson in all her interviews and award speeches that I can’t envisage her putting herself away enough for Proper Acting.
But of course she can – and does as the private investigator Zoë Boehm, a woman of flint and diamond, in the new eight-part thriller Down Cemetery Road, Morwenna Banks’ adaptation of Mick Herron’s debut novel of the same name. Herron has since become known for Slow Horses, the series about the busted spies in Slough House pushing paper under the world-wearied eye of Jackson Lamb, ever hoping to get back in the game. Gary Oldman, who plays Lamb, has become a sort of niche national treasure for his portrayal of the beleaguered antihero whom we like to think lives in all of us. I hope the same happens with Thompson/Boehm, because both are magnificent. Boehm is a role model for ladies everywhere, but especially those hampered by a lack of innate cynicism or by a people-pleasing nature (or early training). Look at Boehm and learn. Observe the barren wasteland in which she stands, the field of fucks she has left to give. “I don’t drink prosecco and I don’t bond emotionally,” she tells a new client and one of the show’s many delights is that this remains almost entirely true.
From cultural appropriation to gender, Smith nails the politics of creativity. But on actual politics, she is less assured
Accepting a literary prize in Ohio last year, the novelist Zadie Smith described “feeling somewhat alienated from myself, experiencing myself as a posthumous entity”. Smith is only 50, but there is indeed something of the afterlife about the material gathered in her new book, which bundles various odds and ends from the past nine years: speeches, opinion pieces, criticism and eulogies for departed literary heroes – Philip Roth, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel.
In Some Notes on Mediated Time – one of three completely new essays in the collection – Smith recalls how the “dreamy, slo-mo world” of her 1980s childhood gave way, within a generation, to the “anxious, permanent now” of social media. If you lived through that transition, you don’t have to be very old to feel ancient. When this estrangement is compounded by the ordinary anxieties of ageing, cultural commentary becomes inflected with self-pity. Smith’s identification with the protagonist of Todd Field’s Tár, a once revered conductor who finds herself shunned by the younger cohort, takes on existential proportions: “Our backs hurt, the kids don’t like Bach any more – and the seas are rising!”
The Seeeu Europe photo month is under way – in Tokyo! It features shots by European image-makers displayed in public, from cafes to construction sites across the capital
A new generation of chefs and distillers are showcasing the Hebridean island’s outstanding produce and creating jobs for fellow islanders
With its dramatic, rugged mountain skyline, winding roads and ever-changing weather, the Isle of Skye has long appealed to lovers of the wild. Over the last decade, however, the largest island in the Inner Hebrides has been drawing visitors for other reasons – its dynamic food and drink scene. Leading the way are young Sgitheanach (people from Skye) with a global outlook but a commitment to local, sustainable ingredients. It’s also the result of an engaged community keen to create good, year-round jobs that keep young people on the island.
Calum Montgomery is Skye born and bred, and he’s passionate about showcasing the island’s larder on his menus at Edinbane Lodge. “If someone is coming to Skye I want them to appreciate the landscape, but also the quality of our produce,” he says. “Our mussels, lobster, scallops and crab are second to none.” Montgomery is mindful of the past: “It means everything to me to use the same produce as my ancestors. My grandpa was a lobster fisherman and we’re enjoying shellfish from the same stretch of water, with the same respect for ingredients.”
Gripping documentary follows Jens Stoltenberg through his final year as Nato chief – balancing diplomacy, egos and all-out war with unnerving calm
Jens Stoltenberg is the Norwegian politician and international diplomat whose destiny it was to be secretary general of Nato in the second most fraught period of its postwar history (if we accept that the Cuban missile crisis is in pole position). He was in charge from 2014 to 2024 and this documentary, with remarkable access, shows us his final 12 months – day-by-day, moment-by-moment – after Joe Biden had persuaded him in 2023, when his tenure was technically at an end, to stay on for another year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Perhaps, until that moment, Stoltenberg had been happy to assume that for all the meetings and stress, the secretary-generalship was an agreeable prestigious technocratic position without any real danger. But now he was faced with the possibility of executing Nato’s raison d’être. Ukraine can’t be admitted to Nato because that would mean war on Putin. But how about Nato giving money and weapons to Ukraine for attacks on Russian soil? Wouldn’t Russia see that the same way?
She was five when I first took her to a junior parkrun and I was amazed at her attitude and ability. After a lifetime of seeing exercise as punishment, I could suddenly appreciate it
As a teenager, I was very much a “don’t put me down for cardio” girl. At school I would volunteer to be the goalkeeper as it required the least amount of movement. When it came to sports day, if I couldn’t blag a sicknote, I’d reluctantly sign up for long jump, since the long-jump pit was tucked away behind the bike shed and drew no crowds. The idea of running on the track in front of the whole school felt like a nightmare brought to life.
Unlike lots of my male friends who played football or rugby for fun, I only saw exercise as punishment. Diet culture in the 90s dictated that thinness – and subsequent “goodness” – was a simple case of calories in versus calories out. Exercise was a gruelling way to stay slim and nothing more. I knew nothing of the feelgood effects of exercise, since I only ever experienced feeling as if I was going to pass out.
Major parties rule out coalition with rightwinger, giving his party little chance of being part of government
Voting is under way in parliamentary elections in the Netherlands that polls suggest could again be won by the anti-immigration firebrand Geert Wilders’s Freedom party (PVV), although there is little chance of it being part of the next government.
The PVV, which finished a shock first in the previous election and formed a four-party all-conservative coalition that lasted barely a year before collapsing, is marginally ahead in the polls and forecast to return between 24 and 28 MPs to the 150-seat parliament.
Two warming autumnal centrepieces from the north of England that ooze cosy comfort food
Late autumn in the UK is a fantastic time to be a cook. You have all the preserves from the warmer months to work with, prolonging the essence of balmier days, but, as colder weather draws in, it’s also a time to think about heartier fare to warm our bellies. Root vegetables, mushrooms and dark red meat play a prominent role in making the winter chill not just bearable but somehow even desirable. Duck is one of my favourites for a weekend lunch, and we’re lucky to have incredible produce here in Yorkshire to pair it with.
Analysis of public records comes as Trump administration aims to fast-track approval of new LNG export terminals
Every fully operational liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the US has violated federal pollution limits in recent years, a new report has found.
The analysis of public records comes as the Trump administration is aiming to fast-track the approval of new export terminals in an attempt to sell more domestic LNG to Europe and Asia. Joe Biden had previously placed a pause on LNG exports, which Donald Trump lifted on the first day of his return to office.
Less than a day after staggering through one of the most draining defeats in World Series history, the Toronto Blue Jays played with total command.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run homer and Shane Bieber delivered a composed start as Toronto beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, squaring the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and guaranteeing the series will return to Canada.
Government critics abducted, killed or arrested in run-up to vote as Samia Suluhu Hassan faces first electoral test
Tanzania’s president looks on course to strengthen her grip on the country as it holds a general election on Wednesday against the backdrop of rapidly intensifying repression and the exclusion of opposition candidates.
Samia Suluhu Hassan, a former vice-president who took office after the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, in 2021, has left nothing to chance for her first presidential and parliamentary electoral test.
Forward injured in England’s 3-0 win over Australia
Beever-Jones: ‘I will be praying she will be OK’
Sarina Wiegman said she was “not feeling very positive” about the extent of the knee injury suffered by forward Michelle Agyemang in England’s 3-0 defeat of Australia.
The 19-year-old forward, on loan at Brighton from Arsenal, slammed the Pride Park pitch in agony after going down off the ball, prompting teammates and medical staff to rush to her side. She exited on a stretcher, with a concerned Wiegman speaking to her as she was taken down the tunnel.
Teenager could be picked to face Brighton in Carabao Cup
Jesus, Havertz, Martinelli, Madueke, Saliba all to miss out
Mikel Arteta has admitted that he is tempted to play the 15-year-old Max Dowman against Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. “When you look at what he does in training you have to play him,” the Arsenal manager said.
Dowman made a pair of Premier League appearances in August, having been a sensation in pre‑season. His most recent first‑team involvement was as a substitute at Port Vale in the Carabao Cup on 24 September. As with the careful management of Ethan Nwaneri, who may also play his part at the Emirates Stadium against Brighton, Arsenal have mapped out Dowman’s development. He was an unused substitute last week in the Champions League defeat of Athletic Bilbao.
As Cuba prepares for the storm to make landfall any minute, officials in Jamaica are preparing to assess the damage on Wednesday.
A video shared by the Jamaican Constabulary Force shows officers surveying extensive destruction in Black River, close to where Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm.
We’re watching the Orbánisation of the US – and as in Hungary, control of the media is key to consolidating power
Democracy may be dying in the US. Whether the patient receives emergency treatment in time will determine whether the condition becomes terminal. Before Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, I warned of “Orbánisation” – in reference to Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. There, democracy was not extinguished by firing squads or the mass imprisonment of dissidents, but by slow attrition. The electoral system was warped, civil society was targeted and pro-Orbán moguls quietly absorbed the media.
Nine months on, and Orbánisation is in full bloom across the Atlantic. Billionaire Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, and his filmmaker son, David, have become blunt instruments in this process. Trump boasts they are “friends of mine – they’re big supporters of mine”. Larry Ellison, second only to Elon Musk as the world’s richest man, has poured tens of millions into Republican coffers. Shortly after the 2020 election, he joined a call that discussed challenging the legitimacy of the vote. His son, David, has a history of backing Democrats – but at one time, so did Trump, his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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