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Mindboggling Magritte, artists respond to a world in peril and a squished Citroën – the week in art
The week’s art news highlights exhibitions exploring surrealism, ecological crisis, South Asian history and contemporary sculpture. Major shows include responses to René Magritte, Rachel Kneebone’s porcelain works at the Wallace Collection, and artists addressing threats to the natural world. Other notable events include Gabriel Orozco’s retrospective, a bee-inspired installation by Luke Jerram in east London,…
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Fear and loathing linger as Millwall and West Ham resume ferocious rivalry
Millwall and West Ham meet for the first time in 14 years on Saturday, resuming a fixture that has prompted Metropolitan police to be granted special powers to prevent violence. Rather than a geographical rivalry, the intense animosity stems from deep community tribalism and a troubled history of hooliganism. The matchday atmosphere is expected to…
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UK to answer for its ‘dismal record’ in Eurovision before committee of MPs
A parliamentary committee is to investigate why the UK has performed so poorly at Eurovision in recent years. MPs will examine how the BBC selects its entries and whether the results reflect weak song choices, performances or wider problems in the music industry. The UK has reached the top 10 only three times since 2000…
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Read killer mum’s gory Google searches before she stabbed her two young sons to death in their beds – after she found out her ex was having a child with his new lover
A 42-year-old New South Wales mother stabbed her two sons, aged nine and 11, in their beds in September 2024 after becoming distressed that their father was expecting a child with his new partner. Evidence presented to the NSW Supreme Court showed she had made increasingly disturbing online searches about murder, suicide, knife injuries and…
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Chancellor mulls ANOTHER raid on holidays as ‘Airbnb lets could be treated as second homes instead of businesses’
The Government is considering taxing short-term holiday lets as second homes, meaning they could face council tax instead of business rates. The review follows concerns that some owners use small business relief primarily to reduce tax, while opponents warn the change could raise costs, reduce available accommodation and increase prices for holidaymakers. In England, holiday…
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TV tonight: more zombies get an ass-kicking in The Walking Dead spin-off
Tonight’s television highlights span returning dramas, comedy and unconventional factual programmes. The offerings include a new series of The Walking Dead: Dead City, Joe Lycett’s pub-based comedy, a cosy murder mystery and several season or relationship finales. Key details include Maggie and Negan’s renewed conflict in apocalyptic New York; a programme about affordable homes featuring…
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‘He was making history, not copying it’: the greatest Gordon Parks photographs
A new exhibition, Gordon Parks: Voices in the Mirror, marks the 20th anniversary of the Gordon Parks Foundation by celebrating Parks’s photography and wider artistic legacy. People who knew him, including relatives of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X and prominent artists and activists, describe how his images revealed the humanity of his subjects and continue…
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Wellwishers donate nearly £80,000 to devastated family of Noah Woods after tragic three-year-old’s body was pulled from pond
Three-year-old Noah Woods from Brantham, Suffolk, was found dead in Decoy Pond on Wednesday after going missing on Tuesday. Noah, who was non-verbal, partially deaf and awaiting an autism assessment, had run away from a relative near a playground and vanished down an alleyway towards woodland. The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of community support,…
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‘We demand the truth’: Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee lead calls for proof of life of disappeared Eritrean writers
More than 180 writers, including Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee, have renewed calls for proof of life from 12 Eritrean writers detained without trial since a 2001 crackdown on independent media. Organised by PEN International, the letter urges President Isaias Afwerki to provide verified information about their whereabouts, health and survival, highlighting the…
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Royal Society slams UK.gov science shake-up
The UK government has restructured its science policy apparatus by abolishing the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and moving science responsibilities to the new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), a move that Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, has condemned as “quite a big mistake”. Nurse argues that…