Topic: Culture

Sheffield's ex-partner killed in a knife and baseball bat attack, sparks fly over a controversial Israel-Gaza film, and a teacher at an elite boarding school loses her job over an undisclosed link to a convicted partner. Culture at the site stretches well beyond arts and entertainment, taking in the crimes, controversies and human stories that reveal something about how people live now, alongside the films, television and public figures that shape everyday conversation.

Here you'll also find the lighter and more reflective side of the news cycle: verdicts on the latest streaming hits and box-office flops, profiles of tech figures pursuing unusual ventures, and the odd stroke of luck or fate that turns an ordinary person's story into something worth telling. It sits alongside coverage of institutions under strain, from schools and legal bodies to the people who move between government and industry.

Taken together, this topic offers a broad, everyday view of society: what people are watching, what they're arguing about, and where individual choices collide with public consequences.

  • Hooters says kids, families are part of its comeback as waitresses insist they’ve always been welcome

    Hooters is seeking to rebuild its business by appealing more directly to children and families after its original founders regained control following corporate bankruptcy. The company says the effort involves reducing its previously oversexualised image and placing greater emphasis on food, hospitality and community involvement, while some waitresses say families have always been welcome at…

  • Fmr Arizona Dem candidate accused of storming into ex’s home with knife, tape, blames ‘misunderstanding’

    Brianna Westbrook, a former Arizona Democratic congressional candidate, has been arrested and charged with burglary after allegedly forcing her way into an ex-partner’s home while armed with a knife and carrying tape. Westbrook reportedly told police the incident was a “misunderstanding” linked to a BDSM scenario, a claim the alleged victim disputes, saying she never…

  • Netflix is releasing its own Cloverfield-style sci-fi thriller 1 week before J.J. Abrams does

    Netflix’s The Last House will arrive a week before J.J. Abrams-produced The End of Oak Street, with both science-fiction thrillers centred on suburban families facing an unexplained threat. The close timing highlights Hollywood’s recurring tendency towards similar premises, though the films take their families’ confinement and survival in different directions. In The Last House, Greta…

  • Donald Trump Drops Part of His $10 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against the BBC

    Donald Trump has dropped BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial arm, from his $10 billion defamation lawsuit, while continuing his case against the British Broadcasting Corporation itself. The dispute concerns a Panorama documentary edit of Trump’s January 6 speech, and matters because it tests whether the broadcaster can be held liable in the US over editorial…

  • Gracie Abrams Says ‘Daughter From Hell’ Is a ‘Thank-You Note’ To Her Mom

    Gracie Abrams has released her third studio album, Daughter From Hell, and described its title track as a long-overdue apology and thank-you note to her mother. Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she said she had been a defiant child rather than a “monster”, and that this could be turbulent for her parents.…

  • Nia Archives – Emotional Junglist

    Clash Magazine’s review finds Nia Archives’ second album, ‘Emotional Junglist’, to be an ambitious and emotionally direct expansion of her jungle-based sound. The reviewer argues that it moves decisively beyond nostalgia for the genre, combining breakbeats with post-punk, pop, dancehall, industrial and orchestral elements while retaining a clear musical identity. The 15-track album follows her…

  • David Byrne announces intimate UK book tour

    David Byrne has announced a five-date UK tour to promote his forthcoming book, *Sleeping Beauties*, beginning in London on 8 November and ending in Edinburgh on 13 November. The Talking Heads frontman will discuss why artistic and scientific breakthroughs can be overlooked before being rediscovered, while donating his tour fees to the Rocksteady Foundation, which…

  • Denmark will ban burkas in schools and universities under plans to tackle ‘parallel societies’

    Denmark is planning to ban the wearing of burkas and niqabs in schools and universities as part of a wider drive to tackle what officials describe as “parallel societies” within the country. The move forms part of ongoing Danish government efforts to promote integration and shared national values, particularly in education settings, and reflects a…

  • Steve Lacy – Oh yeah?

    Clash Magazine’s review finds Steve Lacy’s *Oh yeah?* a compelling, introspective third album that falls just short of classic status. Recorded partly in Paris during a period of sobriety, it presents Lacy as a tragi-comic rock star examining desire, emotional dysfunction and romantic fixation with humour as well as vulnerability. The ten-track record is praised…

  • I Can Die Too review – vibrant pop songs can’t bring actor’s tale to life

    The review finds that I Can Die Too showcases Frances Ruffelle’s strengths as a singer but fails to make its theatrical story compelling. Its original, retro-styled pop songs are praised as lively and well performed, yet the drama around an actor rehearsing Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine is judged unclear and underdeveloped. The production, written by…