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Government Digital Service move ‘grinds gears’ in UK’s e-government
The UK Government’s decision to move the Government Digital Service (GDS) to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport risks weakening its influence and causing experienced staff to leave, MPs were told. Experts said the repeated reorganisations could distance the service from central government and make digital policy and delivery less effective. The GDS…
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‘You think you’re done and you get pigeonholed’: Samantha Morton on raving, Richard Russell and having another shot as a singer
Samantha Morton, the acclaimed actor currently starring in The Odyssey, discussed her multifaceted relationship with music at a Guardian Live event at Green Man Festival in August. The performer, who recently released a solo album in collaboration with XL label boss Richard Russell, explored how music has shaped her life and artistic practice, revealing that…
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Jonathan Majors’s anti-Islam action thriller is laughably terrible far-right propaganda
Jonathan Majors stars in “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,” a new action thriller produced by Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire streaming studio and co-produced with Bonfire Legend. The 128-minute film follows a former Delta Force soldier confronting terrorists during a mass-casualty attack on a college campus. It is a sequel to the 2020 Daily Wire film “Run…
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The New Dark Ages by James Marriott review – a grandiose but superficial defence of reading
Times columnist James Marriott’s debut book, The New Dark Ages, argues that smartphones have devastated reading culture and threatens civilisation by making us vulnerable to autocracy and misinformation. The Guardian reviewer finds the book’s central message—scroll less, read more—presented with grandiose rhetoric but insufficient substance, undermined by vague claims about literature’s transformative power and unsubstantiated…
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South Park – I mean, South America – is back, with no Donald Trump in sight (yet)
The season 29 premiere of South Park establishes that the town has already been renamed “South America”, turning Donald Trump’s habit of renaming places into a broader satire of American decline and political absurdity. The episode centres on children’s enthusiasm for powerful e-bikes, while adults’ backlash develops into an increasingly violent campaign to ban them.…
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Labour’s union paymasters to set out ‘wish list’ on tax and Brexit in meeting with Chancellor John Healey… amid fears he will hike CGT to fill £10bn black hole
Chancellor John Healey is meeting Labour’s union leaders today to hear their policy demands ahead of a major Budget due in six weeks’ time. The unions are expected to present a “wish list” including wealth taxes, increased personal allowance, relaxed fiscal rules, and closer ties with the EU. This meeting is significant as the government…
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‘When you tell people the story, it’s almost too good to be true’: the incredible journey behind The Cycle of Love
The documentary The Cycle of Love recounts how Indian artist Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, known as PK, cycled thousands of miles from India to Sweden to reunite with Lotta von Schedvin, the Swedish woman he fell in love with in 1975. Their extraordinary journey, shaped by determination, coincidence and predictions about PK’s future wife, has led…
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Rancour, road trips and revival: tale of battle for Brighton’s future hits the stage
A new play called “Stand or Fall” is being staged this month to commemorate Brighton & Hove Albion’s fight to save its historic Goldstone Ground in the 1990s, marking the club’s 125th anniversary. When owners announced plans to sell the stadium and relocate to Portsmouth in 1995, supporters launched an intensive campaign that included pitch…
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Raheem Sterling’s bleak tale a reminder of absurd path young footballers face | Jonathan Liew
Raheem Sterling’s court case over a dangerous driving incident is presented as a troubling endpoint to a career that once made him one of football’s biggest young stars. The article argues that his decline also exposes the pressures and instability created by a football system that recruits, commodifies and discards players from childhood. Sterling moved…