A £50m signing from Manchester City, Raheem Sterling was once a declaration of ambition by Chelsea but he is now lost in the £1.4bn of talent that has arrived since. It is easy to forget that Sterling was the first of 50 signings under the club’s owners.
He was a Conservative party big-hitter who wrote speeches for David Cameron and worked with Boris Johnson before he suddenly jumped ship. He talks family, flags and why Nigel Farage is ‘top dog’
What I struggle to understand, I say to Danny Kruger in his office at Reform UK HQ, is why a serious Conservative, with a glittering future like yours, would defect to a party led by Nigel Farage? Indeed, the defection of Kruger, a heavy-weight on the Conservative right who served on the front bench and been tipped as a possible future leader, was seen as a major coup for Reform, catching commentators off-guard. Unlike previous deserters – Andrea Jenkyns, Jake Berry, Nadine Dorries – he was a sitting MP in a safe Tory seat. Plus, he was untarnished by the boisterous excesses of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Butwe’ve been around the houses a few times on this. He’s talked about his philosophy (Burkean), his Christianity (evangelical), thrown out words like “family”, “community”, “nation”. He’s asserted (confusingly) that the Tories are “over” but “not dead”, that politics is mostly “gut feeling … mostly vibes – isn’t it?” Now, after a pause, Kruger sits back and fixes me with a blue-eyed grin: “Humans are pack animals,” he says. “You need to know who top dog is, otherwise the other dogs fight each other. That’s what we get in Tory and Labour. Because there’s a weakness at the top.”
From the outside, the run-up to Rachel Reeves’s announcement has looked chaotic, and many see the future of the chancellor and PM in the balance
Every budget could be described, to a greater or lesser extent, as a high-stakes moment. Things can easily go badly wrong, as Gordon Brown discovered when he abolished the 10p tax rate in 2007, or George Osborne when his 2012 ‘omnishambles’ budget fell apart over pasties, and especially Kwasi Kwarteng, whose disastrous mini-budget of 2022 sent the Conservatives spiralling towards electoral defeat.
Rachel Reeves appears to have come perilously close to the turmoil of previous budgets, and that’s before she has even delivered it.
A comforting and filling mix of Korean and Italian flavours and textures that’s ideal for weeknight dinner
Share your questions for Meera Sodha, Tim Dowling and Stuart Heritage for a special Guardian Live event on Wednesday 26 November.
I am a ragu-fancier and akheema fanatic. Unlike with most foods, however, it doesn’t do to rationalise this love for ragu, because it is a mash of things chopped up so small that they all lose their texture. This might sound a bit woo-woo, but the joy of ragu comes from feeling your way through it, from the chopping and standing with your thoughts, to stirring a bubbling pot and the smell creeping under the door. A ragu isn’t just a ragu, it’s a coming-together of good things: thoughts, feelings, ingredients, time and effort.
Anti-AI and pro-beauty, Leo XIV has proved an unlikely custodian of culture – and a patron of meaningful work in a world of algorithmic slop
So, who figured that Pope Leo XIV would end up being kind of cool? Not me. Although as a lapsed Catholic I had little stake in the conclave race, I felt that there was something unglamorous, dare I say godless, about a first-ever supreme pontiff born in the US, let alone one hailing from Chicago, the same city as Hugh Hefner, Hillary Clinton and Kanye West. There were greater apprehensions beyond taste, too. Would this finally be the ordination of the reinvigorated Maga movement after the death of the compassionate Pope Francis? When Leo appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica wearing the traditional red mozzetta cape eschewed by his predecessor, it was too easy to jump to conclusions.
By the grace of God, the red mozzetta was a red herring. Very quickly, American conservatives went into meltdown over the pope’s patent anti-Maga leanings and his empathy for migrants and marginalised groups – “anti-Trump, anti-Maga, pro-open borders and a total Marxist,” fumed far-right activist Laura Loomer. That alone has been a relief. But perhaps even more significantly, Leo has demonstrated the benefits an American bishop of Rome can have for the rest of us, Christian, Catholic or otherwise: that is through his exemplary cultural leadership, and close engagement with the arts.
We have difffering views on my contribution to our book club: I see myself as its beating heart; my wife says I’m an interloper
For the first time in the history of book club, I can’t make it to book club. The scheduling conflict arises late in the day, which is galling because I’ve already read the book, and I can’t very well unread it.
Matt Smith is the ultimate bad dad in a Nick Cave novel adaptation, and the Oz prequel musical reaches the end of the road. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
Title race leader first in qualifying ahead of Verstappen
Hamilton woes continue with last-place finish for Ferrari
Lando Norris claimed pole position for McLaren at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a superb lap in treacherous wet conditions on the street circuit in Nevada, and with it moved one step closer to winning his first Formula One world championship.
The title race leader beat the Red Bull of Max Verstappen into second, but with his closest championship rival – teammate Oscar Piastri – only in fifth, Norris has the opportunity to further extend his advantage at the top of the standings.
This week’s local elections are the latest reminder that when social democrats move rightwards, they’re making a mistake
Cas Mudde is the author of The Far Right Today
After more than 100 years, Copenhagen no longer has a Social Democrat mayor. Sisse Marie Welling, the new lord mayor, represents neither the mainstream right nor the far right but the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti, known as SF). This should be a major wake-up call for centre-left parties across Europe. After more than a decade taking the wrong lessons from Denmark, it is finally time to learn the right lesson: copying the far right not only fails to turn on far-right voters, it also turns off progressive voters.
The 21st century has so far seen two simultaneous electoral developments in western Europe: the decline of social-democratic parties and the rise of far-right parties. This has created the powerful narrative that social democrats are losing votes to the far right, in particular because of their (alleged) “pro-immigration” positions. And although research shows that their voters mainly moved to centre-right and green parties, social-democratic parties have been chasing this mythical “left behind” voter ever since.
Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today
National Trust begins planting the 49 ‘trees of hope’ so the illegally felled tree can live on in a positive way
Saplings from the felled Sycamore Gap tree are to be planted across the UK, including at a pit disaster site, a town still healing from the Troubles and a place which became an international symbol of peace, protest and feminism.
The National Trust said planting of 49 saplings, known as “trees of hope”, would begin on Saturday. It is hoped that the sycamore will live on in a positive, inspirational way.
Leading past donors including France, Japan and European Commission fail to contribute at pledging summit
Control of the deadly infectious diseases HIV, tuberculosis and malaria “hangs in the balance” after a shortfall in donations to a leading global health fund, advocates have warned.
Only $11.3bn of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria’s $18bn (£14bn) targeted budget for 2026 to 2028 has been confirmed so far.
Chernihiv residents say they are without power for 14 hours a day as they gather in ‘invincibility points’ to charge up and warm up
Valentyna Ivanivna showed off her new head torch. It was a present from her grandson, she said. Most evenings she wears it while doing household chores: cooking dinner, washing up and stacking plates. “It’s impossible to plan anything without power. You can’t even invite people round for a cup of tea because the kettle won’t work. It’s stressful and exhausting for everyone,” she explained.
Ivanivna lives in Chernihiv, an ancient Ukrainian city known for its early medieval cathedrals. The border with Belarus and Russia is a short drive away, across a landscape of pine forests, villages with geese and the occasional wandering moose. In 2022, Russian troops invaded and occupied most of the oblast. They bombed and laid siege to Chernihiv, pulling out after six weeks and rolling north.
As Wicked: For Good premieres in the UK, find out just how close its costars are, why so many of the cast are vegan and the truth about Grande’s move away from pop
It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen the musical, have no interest in the film or are left cold by red carpets: Wicked season is here again, and you will be made to pay attention. After last year’s chaotic press tour for the first instalment, giving rise to some of 2025’s biggest and most bizarre pop culture moments, all eyes are now on the rollout of the sequel Wicked: For Good and the theatre-kid capers of its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Here’s what you need to know.
1. They are still ‘holding space’ for one another … Last year’s Wicked press tour was an infamous love-in for Grande and Erivo. Such was the intensity of their connection and mutual affection, both were frequently moved to tears in interviews. The enduring image was of Erivo stroking Grande’s index finger in response to a journalist’s unintelligible remark about people “holding space” with the song Defying Gravity. Grande poked fun at her and Erivo’s histrionics, declaring them “insufferable” and “the most annoying” – but their bond still appears unbreakable. At the New York premiere of Wicked: For Good on Monday, Erivo declined to give interviews to preserve her voice. Grande was reported to also be skipping press “in solidarity”, but couldn’t help plugging her costar’s forthcoming projects “as Erivo looked on smiling”, as CNN described the scene. Asked what they were feeling, ahead of the film’s final instalment, Grande spoke for them both: “overwhelming gratitude”. Late on Thursday, she tested positive for Covid.
Itoje: ‘He has a bit of a swagger the way he plays’
Max Ojomoh has been backed to bring his swagger to England’s pursuit of an autumn internationals clean sweep after he was a late call-up following more disruption to Steve Borthwick’s side. Ojomoh has been thrust into the No 12 jersey for a first Twickenham start in place of the injured Fraser Dingwall but Maro Itoje believes the Bath centre will flourish against Argentina.
Dingwall’s withdrawal with a side strain sustained last weekend is further upheaval for Borthwick, who has already lost Ollie Lawrence, Jamie George and Tom Roebuck since the 33-19 triumph over the All Blacks. With Tommy Freeman and Ollie Chessum also injury casualties of the autumn, Borthwick’s ranks have been depleted but Ojomoh has been in fine fettle for Bath this season and impressed on his debut against the USA last summer.
Russia’s president says US-led plan ‘could form the basis of a final peace settlement’, bolstering concerns in Europe about one-sided nature of US-brokered deal. What we know on day 1,368
Washington state resident’s backyard flock of domestic poultry had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said
A person in the US is believed to be the first human to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said on Friday the risk to the public is low.
The person in Washington state, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu strain called H5N5 after becoming seemingly the first known human infected by the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.
This article was amended on 22 November 2025 after the AP corrected its copy to remove a reference to the person’s gender, which has not been released by health officials
Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Friday evening she will be resigning from office effective 5 January 2026, in the wake of souring relations with President Donald Trump, mostly recently over a vote to force the release of files related to the late Jeffrey Epstein.
In a four-page statement, the Georgia congresswoman said the legislative branch had been “sidelined” and accused Republican leaders of refusing to advance conservative priorities such as border security or “America First” policies.
The president hosted the mayor-elect at the White House – and seemed enamoured of his fellow New Yorker
The highly anticipated Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani – the mayor-elect of New York City, the US president’s beloved home town – was hardly the combustible tête-à-tête many had predicted. For the moment at least, the two New Yorkers appeared friendly, smiling and cautiously optimistic about the work they might accomplish together.
Neither revived their hot campaign trail rhetoric, in which they cast each other as diametrically opposed political adversaries. Trump had labeled Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and urged voters to back his opponent, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. In turn, Mamdani had assailed Trump as a “despot” and pledged to be the president’s “worst nightmare”. Here are five things that stood out from their surprising display of political bonhomie.
43rd over: Australia 131-9 (Lyon 4, Doggett 6) And on it goes for Doggett. Another clunky drive, this time through mid on, gets him back for a second run. Fourth ball of the over he finally gets a reprieve, a single to cover. Atkinson bumps Lyon but the ball sails way over his head.
42nd over: Australia 128-9 (Lyon 4, Doggett 3) Lyon single first ball puts Doggett back on strike. Ohh, dropped catch! In at short leg, Pope under the mitre, and the ball reaches his fingertips but goes down rather than up. Mark Wood keeps peppering Doggett, who by the end of the over has faced every delivery so far today but two. The sixth ball he decides he’s had enough and aims a big drive, inside edges it, gets a run to fine leg, and keeps the strike.
Tom Player speaks out about incident in which Victoria Bond died along with two Mexicans and two Germans
A survivor of the blizzard that killed a British woman and four others in Chilean Patagonia has said that tourists were concerned about adverse weather conditions ahead of the trek, but were told by staff it was “normal” and they could proceed.
Tom Player, a London-based composer, told the Guardian that during the brutal blizzard about 30 volunteers worked together in an attempt to try to rescue hikers.
UK academics say latest chemicals are ‘wake-up call’ and urge global action to stop weaponisation of neuroscience
Sophisticated and deadly “brain weapons” that can attack or alter human consciousness, perception, memory or behaviour are no longer the stuff of science fiction, two British academics argue.
Michael Crowley and Malcolm Dando, of Bradford University, are about to publish a book that they believe should be a wake-up call to the world.
Connexion
